Home medicine chests and their relationship with self-medication in children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the contents of home medicine chests and their relationship with self-medication in children and adolescents in the towns of Limeira and Piracicaba, SP, Brazil.


METHODS
This is a descriptive population study based on a home survey of a simple random sample from both towns, comprising 705 households from census sectors selected by means of cluster sampling.


METHODS
age <or= 18 years; an obligatory interview with at least one guardian; inventory of medicines kept at home; and having taken at least one medication during the 15 days prior to the interview. The participants were split into two groups based on medication: self-medication (lay advice) and medical prescription. Tests of linear association were performed, in addition to a descriptive analysis of the variables and multiple logistic regression.


RESULTS
A total of 3,619 medicines were found (mean = 5.1/household; 79.6% were pharmaceutical preparations). The rooms most commonly used to store medications were bedrooms (47.5%), kitchens (29.9%), and bathrooms (14.6%); 76.5% were in cardboard boxes and within easy reach of 142 children aged <or= 6 years. Taking the pharmaceutical preparations in isolation (n = 2,891), the most common were analgesics/antipyretics (26.8%) and systemic antibiotics (15.3%), and the self-medication group had significantly larger stocks of these medications (p < 0.01). Storing medications in the bathroom (odds ratios = 1.59) and legal guardians with <or= 4 years of primary education (odds ratios = 2.40) indicated greater risk of self-medication.


CONCLUSIONS
Keeping medicines at home is a common practice, and it is important to implement campaigns to encourage rational use, reduced waste and safe storage of medicines.
Tourinho
Francis S V
FS
Departamento de Pediatria, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Bucaretchi
Fábio
F
Stephan
Celso
C
Cordeiro
Ricardo
R
D000293:Adolescent; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004356:Drug Storage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012651:Self Medication / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D055553:Prescription Drugs