Self-medication in Zahedan city in 1999

The expansion of medical sciences, pharmacy and health coverage in large scale have increased accessibility of people to all sorts of medicines. Hence the latter has created enormous problems in terms of over and under dose and duration of medication: Therefore investigation of this phenomenon seems very crucial. A cross-sectional study was designed in order to investigate self-prescription in Zahedan in 1999. The questionnaire consisted of demographic criteria, self-medication and knowledge of its side effects. Of 245 cases, 49.8% were males and 50.2% were females with the mean age of 31.2±12.1 years. 67.3% had used drugs after appearance of common cold symptoms without visiting physician. Another common cause of self-medication was headache (55.9%). However, the least percentage of drug intake was noticed in case of subjects suffering from dysuria as a result of urinary tract infection (UTI) that was 7.3%. In addition this study showed that 77% of people believed drugs were harmless and 51.8% took drugs till he symptoms disappeared and only 20% completed the course of treatment. The largest amount of available drugs at homes were painkillers and antibiotics, subsequently the largest amount of medicines taken as a result of self-medications were painkillers, anti pyretics and then antibiotics. With respect to the above mentioned facts. It is concluded that Self-medication and self-prescription are very common among people regardless of their socio-economic level hence it is strongly recommended that educational measures should be employed in order to increase their knowledge of drugs proper usage.