Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Assessment of the Determinant of Choice of ‘Over the Counter’ Analgesics among Students of a University in Abbottabad, Pakistan

T Li¹, G Murtaza², S Azhar², B Nasir³, H Raza³, SH Shah⁴, K Farzana⁵, AK Khan⁶, S Mir⁶, Y Li¹, ZU Nisa⁷, X Xu⁸

¹Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China; ²Department of Pharmacy, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad 22060; ³Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan; ⁴Department of Statistics, University of Balochistan, Quetta; ⁵Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Riphah International University, Lahore; ⁶Department of Chemistry; ⁷Department of Development Studies, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan; ⁸Zhengzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.

For correspondence:- Xu Email: xgxzhengzhou@126.com Tel:+00923142082826

Received: 6 April 2014 Accepted: 4 September 2014 Published: 19 October 2014

Citation: Li T, Murtaza G, Azhar S, Nasir B, Raza H, Shah S, et al. Assessment of the Determinant of Choice of ‘Over the Counter’ Analgesics among Students of a University in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Trop J Pharm Res 2014; 13(10):1713-1717 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v13i10.21

© 2014 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To ascertain the preference of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan (CIIT) students for various ‘over the counter’ analgesics.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey study on self-medication of ibuprofen in students of CIIT was conducted in July - August 2013 using a self-administered questionnaire. Five hundred students with an average age of 20 - 25 years cooperated in this inquisition. The questionnaire contained 18 questions including socio-demographic queries, economical status, perception of the frequency of pain, their locality, and behavior and knowledge of participants on the use of ibuprofen regarding its therapeutic and adverse effects, and interactions.

Results: Out of the 500 participants in the study, 70.4 % were female. The response rate was 68.2 %. Ibuprofen (54 %) was the most used analgesic of all the NSAIDs among the respondents. Approximately, 11.2 % of the respondents reported that they suffer from pain almost every day. The younger and more educated respondents had better level of awareness about the ibuprofen’s indications as compared to those who had low level of education. Of the respondents, 29.6 % were not aware of any side effect caused by ibuprofen. Approximately, 22.4 % of the respondents had no knowledge of the interactions of ibuprofen while 61.2 % of the participants consult a physician about painkillers.

Conclusion: Although many of the students undergo almost daily pain and favor ibuprofen over other NSAIDs analgesics among but they still lack information on its appropriate handling and safety. The overall result of the survey indicates very low level of information about the drug interaction.

Keywords: Pain, OTC, analgesic, ibuprofen, questionnaire based survey, awareness