Prevalence of Self-Administered Drug Use among Population of Tehran, Iran

Background: Medications nowadays have been commonly used items in the world and are sometimes available without prescription. This causes a range of effects on public health. This study evaluated the frequency and the involved factors of uncontrolled prescription drugs consumption. Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional study on 1,000 citizens of Tehran between 2016 and 2017. The various factors such as age, gender, and educational background have been carefully surveyed. The questionnaires were presented to interested people in printed form. For analyzing the data, descriptive statistics and analytical statistics were performed using SPSS software version 19. Results: 67% of participants use OTC drugs and 34% of them were between 20 and 30 years old. Although 12% of the OTC pills were used regularly as a pain killer, 95% of the people did not know anything about the side effects of the drugs. Moreover, 45% used the pill to relieve the common and acute pain and 34% of people lived in poverty and 12% suggested lack of adequate time as a reason to refuse visiting a doctor. Conclusion: Self-administered drug is one of the problems in the medical field. Headache is the main reason of self-medication. In the other hand, drug resistance is also rising among repeated drug users. According to the results, public education, the prohibition of the sale of some high-risk drugs and the reduction of drug doses are ways to prevent the development of such high-risk habits.