title: Self-Medication with Antibiotics among People Dwelling in Rural Areas of Sindh.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Self-medication with antibiotics is becoming increasingly common due to multiple factors. The public who are using these antibiotics generally do not have full information regarding their proper use, especially the dosages and possible side-effects. Hence, unregulated use of such medicines may cause dangerous adverse effects in the patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence and practice of self-medication with antibiotics among people dwelling in the rural areas of province Sindh.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was performed at Outpatient Department of Civil Hospital Karachi, from January to March 2015. Four hundred rural dwellers who lived in the outskirts of Karachi city area of province Sindh were recruited for the study in the aforementioned time period through non-probability convenience sampling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The investigation reported a prevalence of 81.25% among rural dwellers of Sindh with regards to self-medication of antibiotics. The most common reason behind self-medication were economic reasons (88.0%). Amoxicillin (52.0%) was found to be the most self-prescribed antibiotic. Majority of the participants (74.7%) didn't know about the phenomena of antibiotic resistance associated with inadequate use of antibiotics and only 25 subjects identified correctly that the situation would lead to increase resistance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The self-medication rates with antibiotic are higher in rural areas of Sindh. There is an urgent need for the government to enforce stricter laws on pharmacies dispensing medications, especially antibiotics, without prescriptions. Lastly, provision of cost effective treatment from public sector can significantly reduce self-medication with antibiotics among rural dwellers of Sindh.
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Medicine, Dow Medical College. Dow University of Health Sciences , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bilal
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Medicine, Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haseeb
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Medicine, Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Mohammad Hassaan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Medicine, Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Mohammad Hussham
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Arshad
authors.affiliation: Pre-Medical Student, Department of Biological Sciences, The Lyceum , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Asma Akbar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ladak
authors.affiliation: Pre-Medical Student, Department of Biological Sciences, The Lyceum , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Sufyan Khan
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Niazi
authors.affiliation: Pre-Medical Student, Department of Biological Sciences, Karachi Grammar School , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Muhammad Daniyal
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Musharraf
authors.affiliation: Pre-Medical Student, Department of Biological Sciences, Karachi Grammar School , Karachi, Pakistan .
authors.forename: Adil Al-Karim
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Manji
keywords: Adverse effects; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Rural dwellers; Self-medication