Knowledge and practice of self-medication.

Background: Self-medication (SM) is the usage of medicines to resolve self-identified health issues, and it is quite common in many countries. The current study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of SM among attendants at an outpatient clinic of a Baghdad teaching hospital at Baghdad Medical City as well as to determine association of SM practice with some socio-demographic factors.

Subjects and methods: The current cross-sectional study was conducted with about 460 people attending outpatients at Baghdad teaching hospital from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019.

Results: The highest proportion of participants, 176 (44%), was found in the age group of 18-30 years, with 290 (72.5%) females representing the study sample. Around two-thirds (266) of participants were married, and a higher proportion of participants, 218 (54.5%), were government employees; in all, 77 (19%) of participants were either unemployed or housewives. A total of 241 (60%) participants of the study sample were graduates and 74 (18.5%) postgraduates. Considering monthly income, 140 (35%) participants were earning below Iraqi Dinar 5,00,000. Of all the participants, 12 (43%) of them were concerned about the side effects of taking medicines, and 9 of them (32%) due to require medical experiences, 5 of them (18%) due to the risk of missing a diagnosis, and another 4 of them (14%) and 100 of them (27%) of participants used medicine leaflets, 86 (23%) of them used previous prescription, while 67 (18%) of study participants asking the nurse or health assistant, and reminder 41 (11%) used the mass media as a source of information about medicines. The majority of participants, 331 (89%), depended on private pharmacies and only 37 (10%) of them depended on paramedics. About half of the participants, 167 (45%), mentioned name of the medicine while requesting, and 115 (31%) participants mentioned symptoms of the disease to pharmacist, and only 90 (24%) purchased the drug container (bottles, boxes, etc.).

Conclusion: SM is a common healthcare practice among the attendants outpatients at Baghdad teaching hospital with different socio-demographic characteristic. SM is more prevalent in young age group and among low-income people, hence there was a significant association between age and SM practice, as elderly people practice less SM because of chronic diseases and their use of multiple medicines. In addition, SM practice has increased due to the availability of medicines and their easy access from pharmacies.