Self-medication practices amidst the Covid-19 pandemic

Objective: to describe self-medication prevalence and associated factors amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in a university community in Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and methods: a cross-sectional study in 706 adult subjects, applying an online survey to assess self-medication, medications use, complementary therapies, and clinical and sociodemographic variables. Results: subjects aged between 18 and 80 years (mean: 30.47). About 70% of participants were women and more than half were university students. Self-medication prevalence was 65.3%, 37.7% used medication and 49.9% used complementary and popular therapies. Medication was associated with chronic disease (OR=1.64; 95% CI 1.08-2.51), and adulthood (OR=2.88; 95% CI 1.02-8.14). The use of therapies predominated in females (OR=2.07, 95% CI 1.48-2.90) and low (OR=2,76; 95% CI 1.54-4.95) and medium (OR=2.24; CI 95% 1.50-3.35) socioeconomic strata. Discussion: self-medication prevalence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic was high, higher than what is reported in other studies. However, comparison should be cautious due to information heterogeneity in terms of population, self-medication deffinition, recall period, studies context, surveyed products and practices and social desirability of survey respondents. Conclusions: the need to develop robust drug control and health education public policies, for promoting responsible self-care alternatives, was evidenced.