ArticlePharmacy world & science : PWS2008
Analysis and quantification of self-medication patterns of customers in community pharmacies in southern Chile.
Article in Pharmacy world & science : PWS, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing Self-Medication in Children.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingPooled it
- Public Awareness about Antibiotic Use and Resistance among Residents in Highland Areas of Vietnam.BioMed research international · 2019Trial
- Parental Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Antibiotic Resistance in Children: A Review Article.Current pediatric reviews · 2026Review
- Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Responsible Self-Medication Among Pharmacy Students: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey in Uganda.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2025Article
- Prevalence of traditional eye medicine and self-treatment in Gurage Zone, Rural Ethiopia.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- The Use of Non-Prescribed Medicines in Infants from Birth to Six Months in Rural Areas of Polokwane Municipality-Limpopo Province, South Africa.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Beyond the counter: Navigating the landscape of Deanxit® dispensing - Insights from Jordanian community pharmacies.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Development and psychometric properties of a self-medication behavior inventory.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Suspected inappropriate use of prescription and non-prescription drugs among requesting customers: A Saudi community pharmacists' perspective.Saudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society · 2023Article
- Evaluating self-medication practices in Ethiopia.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2023Article
- The Relationship between Fear of COVID-19 and Self-Medication and the Rate of Antibiotic Use in Patients Referred to COVID-19.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Self-Medication Practice with Antibiotics and Its Associated Factors Among Community of Bule-Hora Town, South West Ethiopia.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2022Article
- Knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacy and medical students regarding self-medication, a study in Zabol University of Medical Sciences; Sistan and Baluchestan province in south-east of Iran.BMC medical education · 2021Article
- Consumers' awareness, attitude and associated factors towards self-medication in Hail, Saudi Arabia.PloS one · 2020Article
- Risk factors associated with self-medication among women in Iran.BMC public health · 2019Article
- What is in the drug packet?: access and use of non-prescribed poly-pharmaceutical packs (Yaa Chud) in the community in Thailand.BMC public health · 2019Article
- Self-medication practices among Vietnamese residents in highland provinces.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2019Article
- Self-Medication Practice and Associated Factors among Residents in Wuhan, China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- The self medication use among adolescents aged between 13-18 years old; Prevalence and behavior, Riyadh - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 2014-2015.International journal of pediatrics & adolescent medicine · 2017Article
- Use of traditional eye medicine and self-medication in rural India: A population-based study.PloS one · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSelf-medication refers to using drugs which have not been prescribed, recommended or controlled by a licensed health care specialist. Marketing, in Chile only admitted for over-the-counter medications, influences the practice of self-medication and extends it to prescription drugs. Thus, a complex self-medication process is started, due to reuse of a previous prescription, using drugs purchased directly at the pharmacy or drugs coming from family first-aid kits. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of self-medication, the type of medications involved, the dosages used, and the reasons for this practice.
methodsAn observation-based cross-sectional study was carried out at three pharmacies belonging to a pharmacy chain in the city of Valdivia (southern Chile). In addition, a previously validated form was used. Customers who requested over-the-counter medications were surveyed to identify the patterns that foster the self-medication practice.
resultsOf 909 surveyed customers, 75% self-medicate. Of these, 31% stated that they commonly self-medicate due to suffering from light symptoms, such as headaches (19%), the common cold (8.8%), sore muscles (6.7%), and bone pains (5.3%). The group of medications most requested in this study was nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (33%), with diclofenac sodium being the most used (14%). Influence from other people did not exceed 20% and reusing prior prescriptions reached 46%. There were significant differences when assessing consumer knowledge, reading of information leaflets, and opinions about self-medication at each surveyed pharmacy (P < 0.001).
conclusionMost consumers at the surveyed pharmacies use medications without proper knowledge of their benefits, treatment method, and duration. Drug dispensing at community pharmacies should include active pharmacist involvement to divulge the sensible use of drugs.
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