The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Self-medication and self-prescription with antibiotics in the Middle East—do they really happen? A systematic review of the prevalence, possible reasons, and outcomes
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: There has been no review on the prevalence, possible causes, and clinical outcomes of self-medication with antibiotics (SMA) in the Middle East. METHODS: Databases were searched (January 2000 through June 2016) for articles on SMA among adults aged ≥18 years living in the Middle East. A hand search for relevant citations and key journals was also performed. RESULTS: Twenty-two studies were found. The prevalence of SMA ranged from 19% to 82%. Age, sex, and educational and income levels were the main determinants of SMA. Socio-cultural, economic, and regulatory factors were the most commonly cited reasons for SMA. Penicillins were the antibiotics most commonly used; the antibiotics were obtained mainly via stored leftover drugs, pharmacies without prescriptions, and friends/relatives. SMA was mainly for upper respiratory tract problems. The primary sources of drug information included relatives/friends and previous successful experience. Inappropriate drug use such as wrong indication, short and long duration of treatment, sharing of antibiotics, and storing antibiotics at home for use at a later time were reported. Negative and positive outcomes of SMA were identified. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to understand the links between different factors promoting SMA and to assess the changing trends in order to derive strategies aimed at reducing drug-related health risks.
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Browne, A. J., Chipeta, M. G., Haines-Woodhouse, G., Kumaran, E. P. A., Hamadani, B. H. K., Zaraa, S., Henry, N. J., Deshpande, A., Reiner, R. C., Day, N. P. J., et al. (2021) · The Lancet Planetary Health · doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00280-1 · Cited by 865
Self-Medication Among King Khalid University Students, Saudi Arabia
Alshahrani, S. M., Shaik Alavudeen, S., Alakhali, K. M., Al-Worafi, Y. M., Bahamdan, A. K., & Vigneshwaran, E. (2019) · Risk Management and Healthcare Policy · doi:10.2147/rmhp.s230257 · Cited by 441
Self-medication with Antibiotics in WHO Southeast Asian Region: A Systematic Review
Nepal, G., & Bhatta, S. (2018) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.2428 · Cited by 272
“reported that the overall prevalence of self-medication varied from 19% to 82% in the Middle East [32].”
BackgroundAjulo, S., & Awosile, B. (2024) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0297921 · Cited by 267
Godman, B., Haque, M., McKimm, J., Abu Bakar, M., Sneddon, J., Wale, J., Campbell, S., Martin, A. P., Hoxha, I., Abilova, V., et al. (2020) · Current Medical Research and Opinion · doi:10.1080/03007995.2019.1700947 · Cited by 171
Metadata
- Authors
- Alhomoud, F., Aljamea, Z., Almahasnah, R., Alkhalifah, K., Basalelah, L., & Alhomoud, F. K.
- Venue
- International Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-04
- Volume
- 57
- Pages
- 3-12
- ISSN
- 1201-9712 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2575744492
- Cited by
- 331
- References
- 38
- FWCI
- 3.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
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- Alhomoud, F., Aljamea, Z., Almahasnah, R., Alkhalifah, K., Basalelah, L., & Alhomoud, F. K. (2017). Self-medication and self-prescription with antibiotics in the Middle East—do they really happen? A systematic review of the prevalence, possible reasons, and outcomes. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2017.01.014
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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