Community-Based Assessment of Over the Counter (OTC) Drug and Food Interaction Awareness in the Rural Population of Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh

This research article is a community-based qualitative cross-sectional study carried out from May 2025 to June 2025 among the residents of Jhundepur village, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, to examine public knowledge of food-drug interactions concerning OTC drugs. One hundred participants from all age groups were surveyed through a 21-item structured questionnaire designed by the Sharda School of Pharmacy. Data management and visualization were done using Microsoft Excel 2021, Lexicomp, and Google tools. Some intriguing findings were a very high manipulation rate of OTC drugs with different degrees of awareness of food or dietary interaction among rural populations. Pearson's Chi-square test was applied to draw statistics. Out of 95 respondents who identified themselves by gender, 68.4% were males, whereas 30.5% were females. Hence, the need for targeted educational interventions, such as public information campaigns and better labelling of medicines, to enhance drug safety in the rural setting has been highlighted.