Study of Causes of Self-Medication among Hamadan Province Pharmacies Visitors

Introduction & In the last decade، indiscriminate self medication has increased in our country that can lead to many complications. The aim of this study was to determine the causes of self-medication among Hamadan province pharmacies visitors. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 428 Hamadanprovince pharmacies visitors in the spring and summer of 2012. Sampling was conducted by classifi-cation with proportional assignment between pharmacies in different cities in Hamadan prov-ince. The data collected by questionnaires were described using SPSS-16. Pain medications (29. 9%)، antibiotics (20. 6%) and anti-cough and cold medications (12. 6%) had the highest rate of consumption. Previous use of medication، symptoms im-provement (32. 2%) and similar prescription (25. 3%) were the main reasons of self-medication among the participants. Considering the high prevalence of self medication، designing and implementing educational programs is essential to enhance perceived risks of self-medication between dif-ferent groups of society.