Frequency of Self-Medication with Antibiotics amongPatients Presenting with Common Infectious Diseases

This research study aimed to determine how often patients treatedthemselves with antibiotics when they came to the Department of Medicine, MTI/Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar withcommonID complaints. An explorative, cross-sectional designwas usedwith 211 adults aged between 18 and 60 years who had acutelowerGI infections and upper respiratory or lower urinarytractinfections. Of these patients, the study revealed that 69.7%hadengaged in self-medication with antibiotics in the previous6months to admission. The highest level of self-medicationreportedin the respondents was reported in gastro-enteritis (74.7%), respiratory tract infections (68.5%), and urinary tract infections(61.5%). The augmented choice of antibiotics was amoxicillinat38.1%, ciprofloxacin at 22.4%, and metronidazole at 19.7%. Self-medication or the use returned by purchase accounted for 52.4%of the antibiotic prescriptions at community pharmacies. Multiplelogistic regression analysis revealed that secondary education(OR=2.31, 95% CI: 1. Age (χ2: 43-3.72), employment status(χ2=1.76, 95% CI: 1.15-2.69), and previous antibiotic experience(χ2=2.87, 95% CI: 1.89-4.36) were the demographic variables thatexplained self-medication behavior. 45 of themreportedclinicalimprovement by discharge, of which 43.5%hadclinical improvement, and 21.8% developed clinical deteriorationsorcomplications. The findings underscore the need for bias extensionfor addressing antibiotic self-medication, and its contributiontoward IMR. Keywords: Self-treatment with antibiotics, diseases, resistancetoantimicrobials, access to healthcare, prescription, patients, population health