Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 1000173 J Develop Drugs ISSN: 2329-6631 JDD an open access journal Research Article OMICS International Journal of Developing Drugs J o u r n a l o f D e v e l o p i n g D r u g s ISSN: 2329-6631 Gohar et al., J Develop Drugs 2017, 6:2 DOI:10.4172/2329-6631.1000173 Keywords: Self-medication; Drug interactions; Analgesics; Anti- inlammatory agents Introduction Drug utilization in children is of great concern worldwide [1]. Many drugs for this group of population are used in outpatient settings [2]. Parents generally give drugs to treat their child sickness. he trend of using drugs on their own that is self-medication has been increasing in developing countries as well as in developed countries in recent years [1]. Drugs use without consulting any physician or health care provider for treating or preventing the ailments is self-medication [3]. According to World Health Organization self-medication is the use and selection of medicines by individuals to treat self-recognized illnesses or symptoms. he International Pharmaceutical Federation (IPF) has deined self-medication as non-prescription drugs use by individuals on their own initiative [4]. Drugs purchase and use without an authorized prescription or using previous prescription also comes under self-medication. It also included the use of letover medicines which are stored at home and medicines advised by family members or friends [5]. Primary responsibility for the use of self-medication products comes not only to the individual but also on all people involved in self-medication. herefore, all people must be aware of the beneits and risks associated with the self-use of medicines [6]. Self-medication associated risks include inappropriate diagnosis, drug interactions, drug resistance and adverse drug reactions, inappropriate drug choice and augmented polypharmacy. Risk of drug dependency and abuse are also associated with self-medication [4,7]. Others may also include inadequate dosage, excessive prolonged drug use and double medication as individuals could not be able to identify that same drug has already been taken with another brand name which may lead to serious consequences [8]. Unjustiied and absurd self-medication consequence is the wastage of healthcare resources and may also lead to hospital admissions [4]. Self-medication practices are of great concern in case of children as children are considered to be more vulnerable regarding the use of medicines. In developing countries children constitute a large percentage of the population and they are more vulnerable and susceptible to diferent diseases [9]. It is observed that in developed countries people practice self-medication predominantly with non- prescription over the counter drugs whereas most developing countries have a high burden of irrational drug use. he reason behind is the poorly enforced drug utilization policies due to which individuals have access to both prescription and non-prescription medications [10]. Children are given medications by their parents [11]. When children become sick the irst response by most of the parents is to self-medicate them [12]. Majority of the parents in both developed and developing countries prefer to treat their child’s common ailments like fever, cough/ cold and diarrhoea without consulting a physician [10]. Analgesics, antipyretics, anti-inlammatory agents, cough and cold preparations are amongst the commonly practiced self-medications [9]. Diferent studies conducted to evaluate the patterns of self- medication in children have shown that self-medication prevalence is quite high among children. hese studies also show that self-medication patterns are not appropriate enough and parents do not have suicient and appropriate knowledge about the drug use in children [13]. Worldwide practice of self-medication has been reported to increase day by day. he studies which were conducted in developed countries revealed high prevalence among parents like in Germany 25.2% [11], France 96% [14], China 62% [15], Italy 69.2% [16]. Likewise, in developing countries prevalence rate is quite high. In, Pakistan the prevalence was found to be 51.3% [17], 59% in India [18] and in Brazil about 56.6% [19,20]. Among underdeveloped countries studies showed the prevalence as 60% in Yemen [21], 95.75% in Sudan [13] and 30.1% in Uganda [10]. In, Nigeria many studies were also Abstract The aim of present study was to determine the self-medication trends in children by their parents, knowledge of self- medication and their attitude towards this practice. Factors that enforced them to do this practice were also determined along with their source of information about drug use. Total 400 parents were randomly selected and interviewed. It was observed that self-medication prevalence in children by their parents was 77.25% with male and female ratio 49% and 51%. Self-medication awareness was 66% among total parents and this practice was more in children of age 1-5 years i.e., 47%. Most common conditions for self-medication were fever, cough, lu, vomiting, diarrhoea and allergies. Frequently used drug groups include antipyretics, cough and cold preparation, antimicrobials, antiemetics and antiallergy. It was also observed that 45% of parents practiced self-medication 3-4 times per year and the main reasons behind this practice were perception of illness, previous experience, lack of time, inancial constraint and leftover medicines. Old prescriptions, family members, friends and medical stores were common source of self-medication. This study also revealed that 57% of parents reported recovery after self-medication. It was also observed that 63% of parents informed physician about self-medication in their children and 18% reported that their child became sicker after self-medication. Out of total 56% participants were agreed that self-medication is unsafe for their children. *Corresponding author: Asad Mehmood, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, Australia, Tel: +61293851000; E-mail: asadoficial10@gmail.com Received August 04, 2017; Accepted August 07, 2017; Published August 14, 2017 Citation: Gohar UF, Khubaib S, Mehmood A (2017) Self-Medication Trends in Children by their Parents. J Develop Drugs 6: 173. doi:10.4172/2329-6631.1000173 Copyright: © 2017 Gohar UF, et al. This is an open-access article distributed un- der the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unre- stricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Self-Medication Trends in Children by their Parents Umar Farooq Gohar 1 , Sadia Khubaib 1 and Asad Mehmood 2 1 Riphah Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Riphah International University, Lahore Pakistan 2 University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, Australia