Authors

Liz González González1, Gladys Maidana de Larroza2, Patricia Acosta Recalde3, Lourdes Samaniego Silva4

Position

1Química farmacéutica. Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. San Lorenzo (Paraguay)2Doctora en Ciencias Farmacéuticas. Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Dirección de Investigaciones. Departamento de Farmacia. San Lorenzo (Paraguay)3Magister en Ciencias Farmacéuticas. Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Dirección de Investigaciones. Departamento de Farmacia. San Lorenzo (Paraguay)4Doctora en Salud Pública. Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Dirección de Investigaciones. Departamento de Farmacia. San Lorenzo (Paraguay)

Contact address

Lourdes Samaniego Silva. Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Campus Universitario San Lorenzo. Ruta Mcal. Estigarribia, K

Contact email: lsamaniego@qui.una.py

Abstract

Objective: to determine the prevalence of self-medication among the persons working at a pharmaceutical company from the metropolitan area of Asunción (Paraguay), and to describe its characteristics.
Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study (November 2016). All adult persons working at the company were included (N= 400). Their participation was requested by email in two occasions. Sociodemographic and occupational variables were measured, as well as self-medication, through a self-administered questionnaire, designed ad hoc and piloted (symptoms causing it, frequency, drug class, reasons, source of recommendation, efficacy and perceived danger, conclusion, action in case of symptom persistence, publicity, place of purchase, sources of information). Descriptive and bivariate statistics was conducted.
Results: the study included 166 persons (mean age 33.2 years; 60.2% were male). Of these, 34.3% had self-medicated within the past three months; 90.4% considered that self-medication was dangerous. Self-medication was higher with university than with high school level (44.8% vs. 22.8%; p= 0.004). No differences were found based on age, gender or time worked at the company. The most frequent cause was treatment for headache (64.9%) and the drugs more widely used were analgesics / anti-inflammatories (82.4%); 66.6% of the participants did not consider it was necessary to see their doctor for prescription, and they followed recommendations by relatives or friends in 35.1% of cases.
Conclusions: self-medication was a frequent practice among the population studied, although lower than in other studies. It is necessary to address this problem.

Keywords:

self-medication; nonprescription drugs; drug utilization; drug industry; cross-sectional studies

Versión en Español

Título:

Automedicación en profesionales de un laboratorio farmacéutico paraguayo