Frequency of self-medication in students of the Medical School of the Universidad Abierta Interamericana, Rosario (Argentina) in the year 2023

Introduction: Self-medication is the use of medications on one's own initiative without medical prescription, treatment supervision, or diagnosis. Although in some cases it may be convenient to treat minor symptoms, irresponsible self-medication can lead to serious health consequences. Objective: To describe the frequency of self-medication in students of the Medical School of the Universidad Abierta Interamericana (UAI) - Rosario campus in the year 2023. Materials and methods: A quantitative, observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective, retrospective study was carried out at the UAI, Rosario, Argentina, from January to June 2023. The population consisted of 2nd and 5th year students of the 1st semester of the Medical School. The data collection instrument consisted of an anonymous, voluntary, self-administered survey consisting of 6 multiple-choice questions. The variables were summarized through measures of central position (mean) and measures of dispersion (range and standard deviation) and were expressed in absolute and relative frequency. Results: A total of 53 students were surveyed, of which 72% (n=38) were female and 28% (n=15) were male. The mean age was 28.58 ± 6.59 years (min: 20; max: 43). Fifty-seven percent (n=30) belonged to the fifth year of medicine and 43% (n=23) to the second year. Of these, 81% reported that the reason for self-medication was to have learned that the drug was useful for the reason for its use. The main illnesses that motivated self-medication were headache (94%), muscle pain (70%), flu (66%) and fever (64%). The types of self-medicated drugs reported were analgesics (91%), anti-influenza (66%), anti-inflammatory drugs (66%), antacids (53%), antibiotics (42%) and vitamins (34%). Ninety-eight percent stated that they had acquired medicines from pharmacies without a prescription, 26% from family medicine cabinets and 23% from relatives or friends, respectively Conclusions: It was found that all of the medical students surveyed had self-medicated at some point in their lives, with headache being the most common cause. The students reported using analgesics, anti-flu, anti-inflammatory, antacids, antibiotics and vitamins for self-medication