A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY ON SELF-MEDICATION FOR COVID-19 AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG ADULTS IN A RESIDENTIAL COLONY OF EAST DELHI

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 140 study subjects in an urban residential area of East Delhi selected by simple random sampling method to assess the prevalence of self-medication for Covid-19 and associated socio-demographic and economic factors. Data were collected by interviewing the study subjects using a pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule. The Mean+SD age of the study subjects was 41.89+13.54 years (range: 20 to 75 years); 77 (55.0%) were males, and 75.7% were graduates and above. There were 86 with a Covid-19 positivity history. The prevalence of self-medication among them was 33.7% (95% CI: 23.9%, 44.7%), least in 30-39 years (5.9%, 95% CI: 0.1%, 28.7%), maximum in 40-49 years (44.4%, 95% CI: 21.5%, 69.2%) (p=0.101), higher in females (38.1%, 95% CI: 23.6%, 54.4%) than males (29.5%, 95% CI: 16.7%, 45.2%) (p=0.402), socioeconomic class III (52.4%, 95% CI: 29.8%, 74.3%) and least among class I (20.0%, 95% CI: 9.6%, 34.6%) (p=0.017). Self-medication was not associated with education level, working status and marital status. Prevalence of self-medication was high during the first episode of Covid-19 (39.7%, 95% CI: 28.5%, 51.9%) (p=0.005); higher with mild (47.1%, 95% CI: 32.9%, 61.5%), than with moderate Covid-19 severity (12.9%, 95% CI: 3.6%, 29.8%) (p=0.006). Medicines for self-medication were Vitamin C (82.8%), Zinc (69.0%), Paracetamol 500 mg (62.1%), Azithromycin (31.0%), Ivermectin (27.6%), Doxycycline (24.1%). The common reasons for self-medication were: information from friends/relatives (86.2%), chemist/ pharmacist (58.6%), social media (41.4%) etc. The chemist shops were commonest source of getting medicines for self-medication (82.8%).