Assessment of factors associated with self-medication practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in southwestern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: Self-medication practices involve the use of medications without healthcare professional requests. The threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused the practice of a fittest to survive action, with the assumption that something is better than nothing. Moreover, owing to the lack of effective treatment for COVID-19, the general public has shifted toward self-medication and symptomatic treatment, with approximately 80% of people stockpiling medication for use during the pandemic. Thus, this study aimed to assess the factors associated with self-medication practices during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in southwestern Ethiopia.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed at selected drug retail outlets in southwestern Ethiopia for 415 community pharmacy clients from July 1, 2021, to September 1, 2021. Purposive sampling techniques were employed to select five drug retail outlets on the basis of high patient flows, and we took the study participants until the required quota allotted to each selected drug retail outlet had been filled. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with self-medication. AORs with 95% CIs were used to report associations, and the level of significance was set at P < 0.05.

Results: Self-medication was significantly associated with being female (AOR 3.51, 95% CI 1.04-12.41), having a college education or above (AOR 47, 95% CI 4.32-55.21), time wastage at public health facilities (AOR 2.71, 95% CI 3.47-5.21), being afraid of contracting COVID-19 (AOR 0.006, 95% CI 0.004-0.185), and having high fees at public health facility (AOR 0.006, 95% CI 0.004-0.185). The most frequently used medications to treat or prevent the COVID-19 pandemic were analgesics (42.4%) and cold medicines (29.5%). Headache (22.2%), fever (13.2%), respiratory infection (14.3%), and cold (21.4%) were the most frequently reported symptoms of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: This study revealed high self-medication practices among study area residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary reasons for self-medication in the context of COVID-19 are fear of the pandemic and time wastage at public health facilities. Therefore, special attention should be given to educating public and health care providers on the types of illnesses that can be self-diagnosed and self-treated and the types of drugs to be used for self-medication.

Keywords: COVID-19; Drug retail outlets; Ethiopia; Pandemic; Prevalence; Self-medication.

Fig. 1

Schematic representation of the sampling procedure used to select study participants from Bedelle town-selected drug retail outlets, 2021

Fig. 2

Percentage of respondents who communicated with health providers about medication used for the treatment of COVID-19 pandemic diseases, Buno Bedelle Zone, Ethiopia, by July 2021