Identifying risk factors for incautious use of non-prescription drugs among university students in Emirates

9^th Annual European Pharma Congress

June 26-28, 2017 Madrid, Spain

Khalid Awad Al-Kubaisi, Mark De SteCroix, Don Vinson and Mirza R Baig

University of Gloucestershire, UK
University of Worcester, UK
Dubai Pharmacy College, Dubai

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Pharmaceut Reg Affairs

Abstract :

Background: Use of non-prescription drugs (NPD) among university students is a serious public health issue. Previous study has reported that generally, a sizeable proportion of consumers do not read the drug information leaflet (DIL) before using NPD. However, few studies have identified the risk associated with not reading drug information leaflet before using NPD. There are no extensive studies, which measured the prevalence and identified the risk associated with not reading DIL among university students. Therefore, we attempted to fill the gap in the literature. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted from January to April 2014, among 2875 students in three randomly selected UAE universities. A structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect the responses of the students. SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data. Results: More than half (1348; 57%) of participants reported using of Oral NPD. Of 1348 participants reported using Oral NPD, one quarter (1348; 22.2%) of Oral NPD was classified as incautious Oral NPD usage as they did not read the DIL while using the medication for the first time. This study has identified 10 risk factors for incautious Oral NPD use. Participants with age group of 21 years and older (OR=0.554, 95% CI: 0.373-0.823) (p<0.001), female (OR=0.339, 95% CI:0.236-0.486) (p<0.001), and students from medical schools (OR=0.619, 95% CI: 0.435-0.882, p value=0.008) had lower odds of being incautious users compared to lower age group, males and students from non-medical schools. Furthermore, participants with a polypharmacy behaviour had higher odds of being incautious Oral NPD user than monopharmacy users (OR=1.400, 95% CI: 1.030-1.02) (p<0.001). Conclusion: There a few incautious Oral NPD use among university students, but it is a serious issue when it comes to medical students. There is a need for raising awareness among all medical students to motivate them to be cautious users because they are going to be the future healthcare providers. Further studies are required to explore other risk factors.

Biography :

Al Kubaisi is a post-gradute researcher in his final year of PhD program in Public Health from Gloucestershire University, UK. He awarded his master degree, Excellent with First Honours, in Public Health (MPH) from Hamadan bin Mohamed Smart University, Dubai during the academic year 2010- 2012. He attended his under graduate school at the University of Baghdad where he received his Bachelor degree in Science of Pharmacy in 1996. He spent ten years working as a pharmacist in UAE. His research’s interest is in self-medication practice and in the use of non-prescription drugs by university’s students. For example, investigating students’’ behavior towards reading the drug information leaflets. Recently, he developed and evaluated an Educational Intervention designed for modifying university students’ practice, knowledge, awareness and attitude in favor of responsible self-medication.

Email: kaak2003200@yahoo.com