Resumo

RIBEIRO, Maria Isabel et al. Self-medication prevalence in the Bragança Polytechnic Institute students’ population. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2010, vol.28, n.1, pp.41-48. ISSN 0870-9025.

The self-medication is a normal practice today, defined as a common form of self-health care, consisting in the consumption of a product without a medical prescription. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the self-medication level in the Bragança Polytechnic Institute students’ population. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in a probabilistic sample including 225 individuals, from a total population of 4168 students, during November 2008. The data collected were treated with the statistical software SPSS 16.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The level of self-medication was 90,7% and, of these, only 57,4% have the knowledge about the adverse effects. The main reason which led to self-medication was pain, mostly headache, fever, dizziness and sleep, and the drugs generally used were Paracetamol (Ben-u-ron) and Ibuprofeno (Brufen).

Palavras-chave : self-medication; drug utilization; public higher education; students.

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