Galley Proof 14/09/2018; 9:34 File: bmr–1-bmr181252.tex; BOKCTP/xjm p. 1 Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation -1 (2018) 1–6 1 DOI 10.3233/BMR-181252 IOS Press Evaluation of rational drug use knowledge level in patients with musculoskeletal disorders ˙ Inci Arikan a,* and Filiz Özyigit b a Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty of Kütahya Health Science University, Kütahya 43100, Turkey b Department of Pharmacology, Medical Faculty of Kütahya Health Science University, Kütahya 43100, Turkey Abstract. BACKGROUND: For treatment of chronic musculoskeletal disorders pains to be successful, drug interventions are required. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the Rational Drug Use Knowledge Level (RDUKL) in patients with muscu- loskeletal disorders and some relevant factors. METHOD: The study was carried out in October 2017 on patients treated in the Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Hospital in Turkey. The prepared questionnaire and RDUKL scale were administered to 239 patients by face-to-face interviews. The ANOVA test, chi-squared test and logistic regression model were used for the statistical evaluation. RESULTS: Forty-three percent of the study group was found to have Rational Drug Use Knowledge (RDUK). The patients who used medicines under family supervision had twice as much RDUK as those who did not use medicines under family supervision, and those who were university graduates had six times as much RDUK as those who had primary education or below. Scale score was found to be low in patients with fibromyalgia and high in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: RDUKL was found to be low in the group with chronic diseases and high average age. Besides training, it is important to provide patients with family support about their illness and its treatment. Thus, positive contributions can be made to the increase of the RDUKL. Keywords: Rational drug, knowledge, scale, musculoskeletal disorders 1. Introduction 1 Medicinal treatments constitute for a significant part 2 of initiatives for health services. For the treatment to be 3 successful, it is expected that the patient’s awareness or 4 compliance is high and the medicine is used wisely [1]. 5 The concept of Rational Drug Use (RDU) is defined as 6 individuals’ providing themselves and the society with 7 * Corresponding author: ˙ Inci Arikan, Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty of Kütahya Health Science University, Kü- tahya 43100, Turkey. Tel.: +90 274 265 2031 1166; Fax: +90 274 265 22 85; E-mail: iciarikan@hotmail.com or inci.arikan@dpu. edu.tr. appropriate medication according to clinical findings 8 and individual characteristics for appropriate duration 9 and at appropriate dosage at the lowest cost [2,3]. 10 The inability to provide any component of this def- 11 inition is called Non-Rational Drug Use (NRDU). 12 NRDU is a serious condition that harms both patient 13 and health economics. Due to its importance, NRDU 14 causes an increase in the cost of treatment, decrease 15 in patient compliance, development of resistance to 16 drugs, recurrence of illnesses and prolonged hospital- 17 ization, frequent adverse effects and increase in drug 18 interactions. Despite the fact that the studies related to 19 RDU have continued to increase for the last 30 years, 20 NRDU continues to be an important public health 21 problem for Turkey and the world alike. According to 22 ISSN 1053-8127/18/$35.00 c  2018 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved uncorrected proof version