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Original Research Article
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:
Email:
xgxzhengzhou@126.com,
gmdogar356@gmail.com; Tel:
00923142082826; Fax: 0092992383441
Received: 6 April 2014
Revised accepted: 4
September 2014
Tropical
Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, October 2014;
13(10): 1 713-1717
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v13i10.21
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 |
