Survey on self-medication with antibiotics in Yerevan

Abstract

Self-medication with antibiotics, by contributing to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, is an important public health problem. Closing the eyes to the problem of antibiotic resistance leads not only to adverse medical consequences, but also high economic loss. We surveyed the population of Yerevan to determine the prevalence of actual self-medication with antibiotics in the previous 12 months, intended self-medication and storage to investigate influence of socio-demographic factors on use of self-medication with antibiotics. Using the random digit dialing sampling technique 96 adults were randomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. The prevalence of actual self-medication is 12.5 % and prevalence of intended self-medication is 53.1 %. The most commonly used antibiotic for-self-medication was Ampicillin. The most common symptom for self-medication was influenza. The main source for obtaining antibiotics was “directly from pharmacy”. Socio-demographic factors were not associated with neither actual nor intended self-medication with antibiotics. Intended use of self-medication with antibiotics was the strong predictor of actual self-medication, indicating that 53.1% of surveyed population is at risk of using self-medication with antibiotics. Actions to reduce inappropriate use should target not only the prescribers but also the pharmacists and the general public. The results of this survey identified target population for implementation of intervention programs to reduce antibiotic resistance in Yerevan, and stressed the importance of population based educational programs to increase awareness of population on usage of antibiotics.