INBIOMED   24026
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES BIOMEDICAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Self-medication in patients seeking care in a dental emergency service
Autor/es:
ANDRADA, M.M.; SIRAGUSA, C.; RODRIGUEZ, D.; STOLBIZER, F.; FAES, L.; PRADA, S.; ROSCHER, D.F.; GUALTIERI, A.; ARIAS, C.; SAIEGH, J.; MENDEZ, C.F.
Revista:
ACTA ODONTOLOGICA LATINOAMERICANA : AOL.
Editorial:
Sociedad Argentina de Investigación odontológica
Referencias:
Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2018 vol. 31 p. 117 - 121
ISSN:
0326-4815
Resumen:
The aims ofthis work were: To determine what percentage of firsttime patients to theDental Emergency Department at the School of Dentistry of Buenos AiresUniversity had taken medications to relieve or treat their condition. To determinewhat percentage of these had used selfmedication, and which were the mostfrequently taken medicines. To determine whether there is an associationbetween selfmedication and educational level, and between selfmedication andwhether the patient has health coverage. This was an observational,crosssectional study which reviewed 567 clinical histories of patients who visitedthe Dental Emergency Department from March 2015 to September 2016. Thefollowing parameters were assessed: sex, age, reason for consultation,medication, dose, interval, duration and indication. Patients? educationallevel and whether they had health coverage were ascertained. Confidence intervalsof 95% were calculated for percentages using the Wilson score method.Inferential analyses were performed using the Chisquare test (χ2).Significance level was set at 5%. Eighty five percent (85%,.n=481) of thepatients had taken at least one medication; 77% (n=372) had usedselfmedication. The most frequently used medicines were nonsteroid anti-inflammatorydrugs (61%), antibiotics (34%) and glucocorticoids (2%). No association wasfound between selfmedication and patients? having health coverage (χ2=13;p=0.08). No significant association was found between educational level andself-medication (χ2=10; p=0.22). Nevertheless, the lowest percentages ofselfmedication were found in subjects with complete university studies (77%;CI95: 60% to 89%), while the highest percentages were found in subjects withincomplete primary education (89%; CI95: 69% to 97%), complete primary education(92%; CI95: 82% to 96%) and incomplete secondary educations (90%; CI95: 84% to94%).High levels of self-medication were found in the study population.Although no association was found between educational level and selfmedicationbehavior, the percentage of selfmedication was higher among patients withlower educational levels. The high level of selfmedication highlights theimportance of conducting campaigns to raise awareness about the adequate use ofmedicines.