Background: Analgesics are commonly available at homes and over the counters in pharmacies. Although analgesics can be useful for relieving acute pain, overuse of analgesics or misuse of self-medication can lead to harmful adverse effects, especially among university students who commonly use analgesics. This survey analysis aims to explore the prevalence of self-medication with analgesics among medical university students in Taif city, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A self-administered structured questionnaire was sent to the public through online Google forms, including questions on the frequency of analgesics use, common indications, and side effects, as well as attitude of students toward the use of analgesics, in addition to socio-demographic data. Results: The use of analgesics among medical students is widespread (92.7%). However, 50.7% of the participants used them rarely. Females are more frequent users for analgesics compared to males (p-value < 0.001) and more common to get side effects (p-value = 0.003). Also, abdominal pain was the common side effect of analgesics (2.5%), while headache was the most common reason for using analgesics (63.7%). Conclusion: Medical students do not frequently use analgesics; however, their level of knowledge toward self-medication with analgesics needs to be improved. Future studies on knowledge of the general public and their behavior toward the use of analgesics on a self-medication basis are also mandatory.
Key words: Analgesics, pain, headache, side effects, Saudi Arabia.
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