Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

A Study of the Prevalence of Self-Medication Practice among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria

K P Osemene , A Lamikanra

Faculty of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria;

For correspondence:- K Osemene Email: osemenekanayo@yahoo.com Tel:+2348037161268

Received: 18 May 2011 Accepted: 22 April 2012 Published: 16 August 2012

Citation: Osemene KP, Lamikanra A. A Study of the Prevalence of Self-Medication Practice among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria. Trop J Pharm Res 2012; 11(4):683-689 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v11i4.21

© 2012 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics and antimalarials among university students in southwestern Nigeria and evaluate the factors associated with self-medication.

Methods: A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from 2000 university students using a convenient sampling technique. Prevalence of the practice of self-medication was estimated in percentages while factors associated with self-medication were evaluated using multiple regression analysis.

Results: The prevalence of the practice of self-medication was high among the age group of 25 – 44 years but lower in the 15 - 24 and ≥ 45 year age groups, respectively. Females exhibited higher prevalence of self-medication than males. Among undergraduates, self-medication increased as the students’ class level in the university increased. Postgraduate students exhibited low prevalence of self-medication practices. Self-medication was significantly associated with age, gender and students’ class level in the university at p` < 0.001. A majority, 982 (53.8 %), of the students used antibiotics for self-medication while 845 (46.3 %) used anti-malarial drugs for self-medication. Sources of drugs for self-medication were patent medicines store (901 or 49.3 %), community pharmacies (531 or 29.1 %), friends (210 or 11.5 %), relatives (130 or 7.1 %) and left-over drugs from previous prescriptions (55 or 3.0 %).

Conclusion: The study revealed that age, gender and students’ level in the university influenced self-medication practices. The use of antibiotics in self-medication calls for urgent health policy intervention.

Keywords: Self-medication, Antimalarial, Antibiotics, University students, Nigeria