Prevalence and Factors Associated with Self-Medication in Fasa in 2018: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

self-medication is considered as one of the main social, health and economic problems of various communities including Iran. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and factors affecting the self-medication in people referred to the health centers of Fasa.

This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was performed on 2000 individuals referring to the health centers in Fasa city, half of them were living in the rural areas. Sampling was done in three steps including caste, social level and random sampling methods. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage. Chi-square and logistic regression tests at α = 0.05 were also applied to evaluate the relationship between the variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.

The studied populations included 726 males (36.3%) and 1274 females (63.7%) with the mean age of 37.36 years. 1087 (54.4%) were remarked as self-medication which was higher in rural than in the urban areas (p<0.05). Furthermore, it was found that self-medication was lower among the university students, soldiers, and employees than the high school students (p<0.05). However, no significant correlation was found between self-medication and educational status. The chance of self-medication among those advised by pharmacists was also higher (OR=0.25). The most frequent factors influencing the self-medication were the cost of treatment (58.28%), mistrusting the physician diagnosis (77.51%) and recovery based on previous experiences (81/87%).

Concerning the high prevalence of self-medication in Fasa, the complementary training programs on the side effects and consequences of self-medication are crucial for people especially living in the rural areas. Providing sufficient physicians and other medical staff as well as improving the quality of health services in the villages are also essential. Restricting purchase of drugs without proper prescriptions can also reduce the self-medication in the community to some extent.