Consumo de medicamentos por los jóvenes universitarios

• Autores: Montserrat Alonso Sardón, José Antonio Mirón Canelo, María del Carmen Sáenz González
• Localización: Atención Farmacéutica, ISSN 1139-7357, Vol. 5, Nº. 1, 2003, págs. 25-32
• Idioma: español
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Drug consumption by young college students
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• Resumen

  • Medication presently constitutes one of the most important determining factors in the binomial health-disease and its excessive and inadequate consumption presents a public healthcare problem. The objective of this study is to know the consumption and the use of drugs by young college students. Material and Method: It is a transversal study based on a representative sample from a population of students from the University of Salamanca. In order to obtain the primary data, a structured questionnaire composed of 55 items was used and it was completed with a personal interview. With a confidence level of 95% and an error of 5%, the representative sample of the target population was composed of 395 college students. Results: 89% of the students indicate to have used only those drugs that have been prescribed and 82.5% almost always read the drug brochures. From this last group, 60.2% almost always understand the brochures. The most consumed drugs are: analgesics (43%), influenza drugs (27%) and antimicrobials (18%). 57% of college students prefer to consume drugs based on their own decision, without medical prescription. Furthermore, 10% of these college students prefers to self-medicate with psychotropic (stimulants) drugs. Conclusions: College students have a similar consumption pattern to the general population, although with percent differences in some medication groups. It exists a high proportion of self-medication that is slightly higher than the general population's. We do not know whether this one is either inadequate or responsible. The most positive aspect is the high percentage of oral contraceptives consumption. The negative one is the large consumption of psychotropics