Prevalence and Associated Factors of Self‐Medication Among Late Adolescents in Urban Dhaka, Bangladesh: A Cross‐Sectional Study

ABSTRACT Background and Aims Self‐medication is a growing concern among adolescents in low‐ and middle‐income countries, yet evidence for late adolescents in urban Bangladesh is scarce. This study estimated its prevalence and identified associated factors among late adolescent college students in Dhaka. Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted between October 2025 and March 2026 among 450 students aged 16–19 years in grades 11 and 12 at one public and one private college in Dhaka, recruited by convenience sampling. A structured, self‐administered questionnaire covered sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics, self‐medication during the preceding 3 months, drug categories, reasons, and information and procurement sources. Self‐medication was defined as use of any medicine without a current prescription from, or consultation with, a licensed physician. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression were performed in Stata 15.0 with all 10 prespecified covariates entered simultaneously; tests were two‐sided at alpha = 0.05. Results Self‐medication was reported by 170 of 450 participants (37.8%; 95% CI: 33.4–42.3). The commonest categories were paracetamol‐containing analgesics (150/170, 88.2%), acid‐suppressing agents (109/170, 64.1%), and cough preparations (94/170, 55.3%); antibiotics were reported by 36/170 (21.2%), and sedative‐hypnotics by 39/170 (22.9%). At least one prescription‐only category was used by 156/170 (91.8%), with a median of 4.5 categories per participant (IQR: 3–6). In the adjusted model, female sex (AOR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.31−0.78; p = 0.002) and absence of illness in the preceding month (AOR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.23–0.54; p < 0.001) were independently associated with lower odds of self‐medication. Conclusion More than one‐third of these students reported self‐medication, most often with medicines requiring a prescription in Bangladesh. Because the sample was nonprobability based and drawn from two colleges, the findings describe the participating institutions rather than urban Bangladeshi adolescents as a whole, and identify associated factors rather than causes.