Prevalence and Correlates of Self-Medication Practices for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19: A Systematic Review

• Main Authors: Oluwasola Stephen Ayosanmi (Author), Babatunde Yusuf Alli (Author), Oluwatosin Adetolani Akingbule (Author), Adeyemi Hakeem Alaga (Author), Jason Perepelkin (Author), Delbaere Marjorie (Author), Sujit S. Sansgiry (Author), Jeffrey Taylor (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

It has been suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in self-medication practices across the world. Yet, there is no up-to-date synthesized evidence on the prevalence of self-medication that is attributable to the pandemic. This study aimed to conduct a systematic literature review on the prevalence and correlates of self-medication for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 globally. The review was registered with the PROSPERO database. Searches were conducted following PRISMA guidelines, and relevant articles published between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022 were included. Pooled prevalence rate was conducted using the Meta package in R. A total of 14 studies from 14 countries, which represented 15,154 participants, were included. The prevalence of COVID-19-related self-medication ranged from 3.4-96%. The pooled prevalence of self-medication for this purpose was 44.9% (95% CI: 23.8%, 68.1%). Medications reported by studies for self-medication were antibiotics (79%), vitamins (64%), antimalarials (50%), herbal and natural products (50%), analgesics and antipyretics (43%), minerals and supplements (43%), cold and allergy preparations (29%), corticosteroids (14%), and antivirals (7%). The prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics is concerning. More public health education about responsible self-medication amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics is required to mitigate the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Item Description

10.3390/antibiotics11060808
2079-6382