[Self-medication in a urban population of Cuernavaca, Morelos]

Abstract

This work contains the results of a study on the prevalence of family drug consumption. In our country, self medication should be considered a public health problem due to the population's lack of medical education. Nevertheless, this problem has not been properly studied. For this reason, we completed an exploratory study in an urban population of Cuernavaca, Morelos, México. Its purpose was to gather information about the situation of drug consumption and self medication. A survey was given to 373 domestic groups from the Carolina neighborhood in Cuernavaca. These groups were selected through systematic and probabilistic sampling. A total of 1,537 individuals of all ages were surveyed with an average of four participants per domestic group. Thirty one per cent of those surveyed had consumed drugs during the two weeks prior to the survey. Of these consumers, 53.3 per cent did it through self medication, and 64.9 per cent of them were females. If classified by age group, the highest consumer rate, 7.6 per cent, belonged to the users between 25 to 44 years. If the classification is done by sex and age, women between 25 to 44 years consumed more antibiotics and analgesics which were obtained over the counter. Among the surveyed population, the consumption of medicines was done primarily through self medication, mostly administered by women, and most frequently consumed by infants under one year of age. This phenomenon occurred regardless of the availability and accessibility of public and private health services. The data collected do make us identify women as a fundamental element in the consumption of drugs and self medication.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)