Systematic review of self-medication in students of medical and biological sciences careers

Context: Self-medication is a self-care practice. It is a frequent and widespread habit in all societies and does not distinguish between sex and age. Therefore, students are not exempt from using this practice. Aims: To carry out a systematic review of scientific articles published between 2010 and 2020 on self-medication in university students of careers related to medical and biological sciences with PRISMA guidelines. Methods: A standardized search was performed in four databases with the following terms: Automedicación (in Spanish), Self-medication, Automedication, University Student, and Students. For the selection of studies, the Rayyan® tool was used. The most relevant information on self-medication of university students was collected. Results: Fourteen articles were included and evaluated as high, medium, and low quality with the AXIS tool. The results of the study reflected a high self-medication in university students of careers related to medical and biological sciences, with a higher prevalence of self-medication in women than in men. The more knowledge these students have, the greater their self-medication and, thus, they always maintain this practice, being the most indicated causes for it the problems in the respiratory tract, headaches, and gastrointestinal problems. The main reasons for these students to practice self-medication are the knowledge they have acquired in their curricula, due to past experiences with the same symptoms and minor illnesses. Pharmacies, through friends, relatives or neighbors and home medicine cabinets are the most common places for the acquisition of medications by these students, indicating that analgesics/anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and antipyretics are the most used medications among them. Conclusions: These students practice self-medication because they consider they have sufficient knowledge about diseases and their treatments, which gives them more confidence in making the decision to self-medicate. Subsequently, self-knowledge is a decisive reason for self-medication. Moreover, self-medication patterns regarding the use of drugs from various therapeutic categories vary among medical and biological sciences university students from different countries.