Family self-medication and antibiotics abuse for children and juveniles in a Chinese city.
To identify the determinants of self-medication and antibiotics abuse by parents treating their children aged between 2 and 18 over the previous year, an investigation was conducted in Hefei City, China in April, 1995. A total of 1596 students from a kindergarten, a primary school and a high school were included in the study, and 1459 completed questionnaires were collected (the response rate: 91.4%). The results showed the rate of parental self-medication for their children in the sample was 59.4%. It increased with children's age; about 51% of children had received parental self-medication on six or more occasions during the 1-year period and 32.8% on four to five occasions; there were associations between parental self-prescribers and sources of medicine and severity of disease. The rate of antibiotics abuse was 35.7%. Logistic regression analysis showed that there were significant associations between self-medication and payment of the mother's medical fees by employers, severity of diseases as well as the mother's educational level.
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Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, The University of Queensland, Herston, Australia. p.bi@spmed.edu.au
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Parton
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D000293:Adolescent; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D016487:Parenting; D012651:Self Medication; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents