TY - JOUR ID - 42729 TI - A Study of Antibiotics Self-Medication at Primary Health Care Centers in Shiraz, Southern Iran JO - Journal of Health Sciences & Surveillance System JA - JHSSS LA - en SN - 2345-2218 AU - Askarian, Mehrdad AU - Hosseingholizadeh mahani, Mohsen AU - Danaei, Mina AU - Momeni, Mohsen AD - Professor of Community Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. AD - Student Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; AD - Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Y1 - 2013 PY - 2013 VL - 1 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 5 KW - Self-medication KW - Antibiotics KW - prevalence KW - Iran DO - N2 - Background: Nowadays, self-medication of therapeutic agents is of global concern particularly in developing and underdeveloped countries. Some studies conducted in Iran showed that the frequency of self-medication was significant. Objective: This research was conducted to estimate the prevalence of arbitrary use of antibiotics in Shiraz community with special interest in its determinant factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Shiraz, in 2009. Approximately 710 out of all patients referred to all health care centers in Shiraz were selected to fill out a questionnaire containing 23 questions divided into two parts. The frequency of self-medication according to demographic factors was described and the association between independent variables and selfmedication was analyzed. Results: The frequency of self-medication in this study was 44.5% and the request to prescribe antibiotics by the patients was 53.5%. Amoxicillin was the most widely used drug by the participants. There was a significant association between age and gender with self-medication. The frequent cause for self-medication was common cold. Approximately, 74.4% of the participants reported their previous experience as the main reason for self-medication. Conclusion: The results of this survey demonstrated the high frequency of self-medication in Shiraz. Socio-cultural determinants are the etiologic factors for self-medication. Policy makers are recommended to provide community-wide educational programs to make people aware about the adverse effects of self-medication. There was a significant association between age, gender and education with self-medication and governments could pay more attention to these factors for designing the interventional programs. UR - https://jhsss.sums.ac.ir/article_42729.html L1 - https://jhsss.sums.ac.ir/article_42729_f9fd5e353a516885fd82ec99abc512cd.pdf ER -