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. 2020 May 4;20:613. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08622-8

Table 2.

Knowledge of the study population on medical drugs and Self-Medication

Parameter Total respondents
n %
Familiarity with the classification of OTC Yes 264 37.7
No 436 62.3
Do you know what antibiotics are? Yes 602 86.0
No 98 14.0
Antibiotics are used for? Virus infections 313 44.7
Bacterial infections 384 54.9
Other 3 0.4
Risks associated with Self-Medication are? Risk of using wrong drugs 347 49.6
Lack of knowledge about medicines 448 64.0
Risk of having adverse effects 423 60.4
Risk of misdiagnosing 376 53.7
Administrating medications wrongly 260 27.1
Risk of drug dependence 170 24.3
Other 10 1.4
Which of the following statement(s) about antibiotics is (are) correct? Higher doses always result fast recovery 245 35.0
Low doses can always result less adverse conditions 154 22.0
Switching drugs always enhance drug effect 52 7.4
Switching drugs always reduce adverse reactions 40 5.7
A prior knowledge on the mechanism of drugs is necessary before initiating self-medication practices 539 77.0
Medication can be stopped when basic symptoms fade away 147 21.0
Can humans become resistant to antibiotics? Yes 461 65.9
No 239 34.1
Can Self-Medication cause side effects? Yes 535 76.4
No 165 23.6
Do you know the chemical composition of the drugs that you are using? Yes 64 9.1
No 636 90.9
Level of understanding of the instructions used for Self-Medication Fully understood 184 26.3
Partially understood 383 54.7
Did not understand 133 19.0