Automedicación en pacientes que acuden a un servicio de urgencias pediátricas

• Autores: María Amparo López Ruiz, Rafael López Peña, Lucila Irene Rojas Otero, Lucrecia Moreno Royo
• Localización: Atención Farmacéutica, ISSN 1139-7357, Vol. 14, Nº. 6, 2012, págs. 441-445
• Idioma: español
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• Resumen

  • Objective: Self-medication is a common practice and also an important public health problem among pediatric patients, who are the main purpose of this present work. Method: Cross-sectional prospective and observational study in a hospital pediatrics department, which included any patients that attended after having taken any drug. Results: The total number of patients that attended the emergency services during the period of study was 2,189. A total of 1,449 patients (67%) attended after having taken any drug prior to the visit. Analgesic-antithermal drugs were the most consumed (50%) among patients attending the pediatric emergency services, and only 7.8% took antibiotics. Patients from one to four years old were the most self-medicated (65.1%). Conclusions: Self-medication among pediatric patients is rather frequent, and mostly it occurs with analgesic-antithermal drugs. This leads to underdosing problems and adverse reactions that could have been avoided thanks to a proper drug use