Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess the awareness about the combination of OTC and self-medication among the urban population, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu. The study was conducted for a period of twelve months from October 2014, with the sample size of 125 households by using random sampling techniques and pretested semi-structured questionnaire as the study tool. Socio demographic variables, including, age, gender, education, occupation and SES of the person were considered as explanatory variables. The association between explanatory and outcome variables was tested by Chi-square test were employed to establish the association of socio-demographic profile and drug users. The level of significance was set at <0.05. IBM SPSS statistics, version 21 and Microsoft Excel were used for statistical analysis. This study revealed that OTC/SM combination usage was high in winter 9.20% and rainy season 5.90%. OTC/SM combination commonly used was inji (Ginger) (32.5%), thuduvalai (purple fried pea eggplant) (30%) and pudhina (mint leaves) (12.5%). A cough and cold are the most common symptoms for which OTC/SM combination was used by study population. 76.9% of the OTC/SM users took these combinations for two days only. The majority of the users consumed drugs within a day, season wise no variation seen. All three season >50% of them gave advice to others to consume this combination of drugs. As age increases the over the counter drugs consumption also increases and is statistically significant. Married person was consuming more over the counter drugs than the unmarried. A statistically significant association was found between educational status and OTC usage. Usage was found to be high among middle and high school completed and graduates. Employed participants were consuming more over the counter drugs than their counterparts, but is not statistically significant (p value-0.077). As the socio-economic status increases, the usage of over the counter drugs also increases, which shows statistically significant association p-value <0.05.

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