Objective: To summarize findings about self-medication in university students and to discuss strategies to counter.
Methodology: A systematic review was conducted from the literature from January-2012 to December-2022 on self-medication practices of antibiotics among the university students of Pakistan. More than 40 articles were downloaded; after abstracting relevant information from the studies and assessing quality, data is synthesized and presented by PRISMA flow-diagram.
Results: Around 80% of medical as well as non-medical students were self-medicating. The most common antibiotics were amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin in-order to treat fever and upper respiratory tract infections. Lack of proper health-care facilities, shortage of time to visit prescribers, financial crisis plus left over medicines were found to be the reasons for self-medication. Easy availability of medicines without prescription has also increased self-medication.
Conclusion: Practice of self-medication of antibiotics is raising issues of antibiotic resistance and side-effects. The problem demands the implementation of drug control that restricts the availability of antibiotics. Public awareness programs on the rational use of antibiotics can also help in decreasing the issue.
Key words: Self-medication, antibiotics, university students, side-effects, awareness.
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