Self-Medication with Analgesics and Antibiotics - A Survey among Traders at the Akosombo Market of the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region, Ghana

Abstract

Introduction: Self-medication is often defined as using drugs to self-treat a common health problem without the advice of a medical practitioner. Self-medication is recurrent in both advanced and developing countries but excessive in developing countries. Many factors inform the choice to self-medicate. The focus of this research was on traders who spend most of their lives exposed to constant stress, while trying to perform at the highest level. The combination of chronic stress and an unbalanced lifestyle make them prone to acute and chronic conditions needing treatment but due to the busy nature of their work and fear of losing money, they hardly seek professional medical attention. This study thus sought to investigate the practice of self-medication with analgesics and antibiotics among traders. Methodology: Traders at the Akosombo market in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern region of Ghana were engaged through a cross-sectional, non-probability sampling; specifically convenience sampling approach. Printed structured questionnaires were used for data collection between February 2020 and March, 2020. Data was entered with Microsoft Excel 2016 and analysis done using Stata version 14.0. Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out to obtain summary tables. Inferential statistics such as chi-squared and Fisher‘s exact tests were used to measure the strength of association between the outcome variable and the predictor variables and p values of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine adjusted odds ratios. Results: Two hundred and forty-six (246) traders; 63.4% females and 36.6% males with mean age of 32.5 (±7.53) years participated in the study. Prevalence of analgesic selfmedication was 100.0%, with paracetamol being reported as the most common analgesic. Headache was the most common indication for analgesic use. Prevalence of antibiotic selfmedication was 89.4%. Antibiotics were used mainly for upper respiratory tract infections. The most commonly used class of antibiotics was the penicillins. Traders between the age brackets of 31 to 45 years were more likely (OR = 2.57, 95%CI; 1.02-6.41) to use antibiotics for self- medication. Traders with secondary/middle and vocational level of education were more likely to use antibiotics compared to those with no formal education. Community pharmacists (63.2%) were the main source of information on analgesics and antibiotics. Conclusion: The prevalence of self-medication with analgesics and antibiotics were high among the traders. There is the need for immediate regulatory enforcement and rigorous public health education on the adverse effects of self-medication.