Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39469084›Full record

ArticlePortuguese journal of public health2022

Prevalence of Self-Medication in Portuguese Adolescents.

Inês Almeida, Clara Rocha, Jorge Balteiro

Abstract read
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Article in Portuguese journal of public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Inês AlmeidaDepartment of Pharmacy, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra Health School, Coimbra, Portugal.
Clara RochaDepartment of Complementary Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra Health School, Coimbra, Portugal.
Jorge BalteiroDepartment of Pharmacy, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra Health School, Coimbra, Portugal.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Self-medication is considered one of the health-risk behaviours found among adolescents. The main objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of self-medication for Portuguese adolescents. An observational cross-sectional study was carried out. The sample comprised 420 adolescents, of whom 343 (81.7%; 95% CI: 77.8-85.2) had already self-medicated and 277 (66.0%; 95% CI: 61.4-70.5) self-medicated in the last 6 months. The main health problems that motivated self-medication were headache (76.7%), flu (70.6%), sore throat (56%), and fever (54.5%). Paracetamol was the most consumed drug (86.9%) followed by ibuprofen (83.1%). The pharmacy (87.8%) was the preferred place to purchase drugs; however, 221 adolescents (64.4%) reported that they self-medicated with the medicines they had at home. Of the adolescents who resorted to self-medication, only 59.6% sought additional information about the drug and 53.9% referred to the package leaflet of the medicinal product as the main source of clarification. A significant portion of the respondents (84.3%) believed that self-medication might be acceptable to treat minor illnesses. It was observed that self-medication is a very common practice among adolescents, making it an extremely important issue to carry out more studies on this section of the Portuguese population due to the scarcity of existing ones. These data can be used to define strategies for the dissemination of the rational use of the drug in the adolescent population.

Indexed as

AdolescentEpidemiologyKnowledgePrevalenceSelf-medication

Identifiers

PMID39469084
PMCPMC11320101

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