IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5530-d559555.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumption of over-the-Counter Drugs: Prevalence and Type of Drugs

Author

Listed:
  • Eduardo Sánchez-Sánchez

    (Internal Medicine Department, Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras, 11207 Cádiz, Spain
    Instituto de Investigación e Innovación Biomédica de Cádiz (INiBICA), Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, Universidad de Cádiz, 11009 Cádiz, Spain)

  • Fátima Lucía Fernández-Cerezo

    (Internal Medicine Department, Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras, 11207 Cádiz, Spain)

  • Jara Díaz-Jimenez

    (Doctoral School of the University of Cádiz (EDUCA), Campus Cádiz, Edificio Hospital Real (Primera Planta), Plaza Falla 8, 11003 Cádiz, Spain)

  • Manuel Rosety-Rodriguez

    (Medicine Department, School of Medicine, University of Cádiz, Plaza Fragela s/n, 11003 Cadiz, Spain)

  • Antonio Jesús Díaz

    (Medicine Department, School of Nursing, University of Cadiz, Plaza Fragela s/n, 11003 Cadiz, Spain)

  • Francisco Javier Ordonez

    (Human Anatomy Department, School of Medicine, University of Cádiz, Plaza Fragela s/n, 11003 Cadiz, Spain)

  • Miguel Ángel Rosety

    (Move-It Research Group, Biomedical Research and Innovation Insitute of Cadiz, Puerta del Mar University Hospital, University of Cádiz, Plaza Fragela s/n, 11003 Cadiz, Spain)

  • Ignacio Rosety

    (Human Anatomy Department, School of Medicine, University of Cádiz, Plaza Fragela s/n, 11003 Cadiz, Spain)

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in the use of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. The consumption of these medicines can be unsafe, as incorrect self-diagnosis or the ingestion of inappropriate doses can lead to side effects and the occurrence of adverse reactions and drug–drug interactions. A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was carried out, targeting the entire Spanish population by using an online questionnaire. The results showed that 78.9% of the subjects had previously taken or were currently taking OTC drugs. This consumption decreased as the age of the subjects increased, with a prevalence of 36.4% of subjects aged ≥ 71 taking OTC drugs. Analgesics were the most consumed OTC drugs (49.1%) especially in women, youngsters with non-formal educational qualifications, and individuals of a low–medium socioeconomic level residing in urban areas. Measures should be implemented to optimize the safe use of OTC drugs in order to avoid the occurrence of secondary events associated with the lack of knowledge related to their the usage.

Suggested Citation

  • Eduardo Sánchez-Sánchez & Fátima Lucía Fernández-Cerezo & Jara Díaz-Jimenez & Manuel Rosety-Rodriguez & Antonio Jesús Díaz & Francisco Javier Ordonez & Miguel Ángel Rosety & Ignacio Rosety, 2021. "Consumption of over-the-Counter Drugs: Prevalence and Type of Drugs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5530-:d:559555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5530/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5530/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Patrícia Silva Bazoni & Ronaldo José Faria & Francisca Janiclecia Rezende Cordeiro & Élida da Silva Timóteo & Alciellen Mendes da Silva & Ana Luisa Horsth & Eduardo Frizzera Meira & Jéssica Barreto Ri, 2023. "Self-Medication during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil: Findings and Implications to Promote the Rational Use of Medicines," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-11, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5530-:d:559555. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.