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. 2022 Mar 31;12(1):46-53.
doi: 10.18683/germs.2022.1305. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Self-medication in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A cross-sectional study in northern Peru

Luis E Vasquez-Elera  1 , Virgilio E Failoc-Rojas  2 , Raisa N Martinez-Rivera  3 , Noelia Morocho-Alburqueque  4 , Mario S Temoche-Rivas  4 , Mario J Valladares-Garrido  5
Affiliations

Self-medication in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A cross-sectional study in northern Peru

Luis E Vasquez-Elera et al. Germs. .

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to identify factors associated with self-medication in patients with COVID-19.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using medical records of patients with COVID-19 who self-medicated before admission to a hospital in Piura, Peru. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using generalized linear models with Poisson distribution family, log link function, and robust variance.

Results: Out of 301 patients, 165 (54.8%) self-medicated before hospital admission, being more frequent self-medication with ivermectin (85.5%) and azithromycin (71.5%). The frequency of self-medication in those aged between 30-59 years was 2.53-fold higher than in those between 18-29 years. Male patients, dyslipidemia, smoking, and hepatic steatosis were associated with self-medication. Clinical characteristics associated with self-medication were fever, cough, headache, anosmia, dysgeusia, nausea/vomiting, and gastroesophageal reflux.

Conclusions: A high frequency of self-medication before hospital admission was observed in Peruvian patients with COVID-19, mainly of drugs without proven efficacy.

Keywords: Peru; SARS-CoV-2; epidemiology; public health, environmental and occupational health; risk factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: All authors – none to declare.

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