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Objectives: To assess the prevalence of self-medication in urban Indian medical students and explore possible factors associated with this practice. Methods: After obtaining institutional ethics approval, 180 medical students from six medical colleges in Mumbai were recruited to participate via social media. They were administered a pre-validated questionnaire that assessed self-medication as a practice, along with the perceived stress scale (PSS-10) online. Anonymity and confidentiality were maintained. Results: The prevalence of self-medication in medical students was found to be 83.9%, with no significant difference between genders or between academic years of medical education. The most used source of information for self-medicating was older prescriptions, and for procuring drugs was pharmacist stores. Common cold was the most cited indication. Anti-pyretics and anti-inflammatory drugs were the most commonly self-medicated drugs. It was found that 73.3% of medical students had self-medicated with non-over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. It was observed that 6.1% of medical students had experienced adverse drug reactions, and alarmingly, 0.6% of medical students continued self-medicating despite experiencing adverse drug reactions. Conclusions: Most of the study participants admitted to having practised self-medication. It was alarming to find that an appreciable fraction of the study population had uncontrolled access to non-OTC drugs. Thus, there needs to be a greater emphasis on the education of medical students with respect to the problems encountered by self-medicating and a need to enforce stricter regulations, as well as to establish a more watertight monitoring system, to curb this hazardous practice.
RESUMEN
Introduction Medication adherence is a critical aspect of managing chronic diseases. Poor medication adherence leads to therapeutic failures and increased health costs, and puts patients at potentially life-threatening risks.The impact is felt drastically by patients suffering from chronic diseases. Patient satisfaction is known to be strongly associated with medication adherence. Psychosocial factors such as depression have been proven to negatively affect medication adherence; however, to our best knowledge, the association of stress with adherence remains largely unexplored. Objectives The aim of this study is to explore or assess the relationship between medication adherence, patient satisfaction, and stress levels. Methods A cross-sectional observational study was conducted within an Indian metropolitan city (Mumbai) among adults diagnosed and treated for at least one chronic disease with a medication regimen spanning over three months. An online questionnaire was designed, incorporating validated scales such as the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale, Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction, and Perceived Stress Scale. Results In the study, 23.7% of participants (n=300) showed adherence to their prescribed treatment regimen. Adherence exhibited a positive association with age (p=0.009) and educational attainment (p=0.031). Additionally, a significant gender difference emerged, with males (28%) displaying higher adherence rates compared to females (16.7%) (p=0.036). Furthermore, participants reporting lower stress levels exhibited higher adherence (39.5%), while those experiencing moderate-to-high stress levels displayed reduced adherence rates (17-18.8%) (p<0.05). Patient satisfaction was also linked to adherence, as satisfied individuals demonstrated higher adherence levels (29.1%) in contrast to dissatisfied counterparts (15.7%) (p=0.011). Conclusion Level of medication adherence is much lower in India as compared to other developed nations. Various demographic factors such as age, sex, and education status influence adherence. Physician counselling plays an important role in adherence, and satisfied patients are far more adherent. Furthermore, a significant negative association was found between stress and adherence.