ArticlePreventive medicine reports2026
Self-medication and pain in the European Union: Gender differences and associated factors.
Article in Preventive medicine reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Self-Medication Behaviors: Determinants, Motivations, and Safety Practices Among Health Sciences Students.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Influence of stress and knowledge on self-medication practices among pharmacy students: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Pain management, including self-medication, is an increasingly critical responsibility of public health. This study examines the prevalence and associated factors of self-medication in individuals experiencing pain in the European Union. Methods: This study performs multivariable analysis utilizing data from wave three (2018-2020) of the European Health Interview Survey ( Results: Overall self-medication prevalence is 42.7%, with rates ranging from 19.0% to 85.1%.Self-medication prevalence is affected by pain severity and the association differs by sex: men are most likely to self-medicate at moderate pain levels (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.25;95%CI = 1.16,1.35), whereas women are most likely to self-medicate at severe/very severe pain levels (AOR = 1.30;95%CI = 1.20,1.40). Additionally, an association between depression and self-medication is found exclusively in men (AOR = 1.38;95%CI = 1.19,1.59). Several factors are also associated with self-medication in both sexes, notably improved education (male AOR = 2.70;95%CI = 2.11,3.45/female AOR = 4.09;95%CI = 3.44,4.87) and over-the-counter medication availability outside pharmacies (male AOR = 1.72;95%CI = 1.61,1.84/female AOR = 2.25;95%CI = 2.13,2.37). Finally, we find that economic barriers to healthcare access influence self-medication (male AOR = 1.31;95%CI = 1.11,1.55/female AOR = 1.33;95%CI = 1.18,1.49). Conclusions: The findings highlight sex differences and the impact of pain severity on self-medication. The results also demonstrate cross-country variation in both self-medication practices and pain, underscoring the need for better education about responsible self-medication, a review of over-the-counter medication policies, and reduced healthcare barriers.
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Registered trials
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