Abstract

In Europe, Asia, Latin America, and around the world, self-medication consists of the use of drugs or medicines without a prescription. This group also includes the purchase and consumption of over-the-counter drugs, the reuse of previous prescriptions, or the use of drugs recommended by third parties. The main objective is to report on the periodic prevalence of self-medication in the otolaryngology department of the city of Rostovon- Don in Russia during 2018 and 2019. Anamnesis and medical history reviews were performed on 2,279 patients from the otolaryngology service, both outpatients and inpatients at that hospital. Seventy-one percent of patients surveyed stated that they had ingested or administered pharmaceutical chemicals without a prescription during their current illness. These results provide important information to conclude that the figures for self-medication in Europe are alarming, with 7 out of 10 patients self-medicating before going to the doctor or experiencing a health problem related to the mouth, nose, and ears. Therefore, we can affirm that there is a high prevalence of self-medication and that it is a very common practice among the European population, specifically in southern Russia.

Keywords

self-medication, self-prescription, drugs, medicines, medication intake