Abstract:
Introduction: Self-medication is often defined as using drugs to self-treat a common health
problem without the advice of a medical practitioner. Self-medication is recurrent in both
advanced and developing countries but excessive in developing countries. Many factors
inform the choice to self-medicate. The focus of this research was on traders who spend most
of their lives exposed to constant stress, while trying to perform at the highest level. The
combination of chronic stress and an unbalanced lifestyle make them prone to acute and
chronic conditions needing treatment but due to the busy nature of their work and fear of
losing money, they hardly seek professional medical attention. This study thus sought to
investigate the practice of self-medication with analgesics and antibiotics among traders.
Methodology: Traders at the Akosombo market in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern
region of Ghana were engaged through a cross-sectional, non-probability sampling;
specifically convenience sampling approach. Printed structured questionnaires were used for
data collection between February 2020 and March, 2020. Data was entered with Microsoft
Excel 2016 and analysis done using Stata version 14.0. Descriptive statistical analysis was
carried out to obtain summary tables. Inferential statistics such as chi-squared and Fisher‘s
exact tests were used to measure the strength of association between the outcome variable
and the predictor variables and p values of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine adjusted odds ratios.
Results: Two hundred and forty-six (246) traders; 63.4% females and 36.6% males with
mean age of 32.5 (±7.53) years participated in the study. Prevalence of analgesic selfmedication
was 100.0%, with paracetamol being reported as the most common analgesic.
Headache was the most common indication for analgesic use. Prevalence of antibiotic selfmedication
was 89.4%. Antibiotics were used mainly for upper respiratory tract infections. The most commonly used class of antibiotics was the penicillins. Traders between the age
brackets of 31 to 45 years were more likely (OR = 2.57, 95%CI; 1.02-6.41) to use antibiotics
for self- medication. Traders with secondary/middle and vocational level of education were
more likely to use antibiotics compared to those with no formal education. Community
pharmacists (63.2%) were the main source of information on analgesics and antibiotics.
Conclusion: The prevalence of self-medication with analgesics and antibiotics were high
among the traders. There is the need for immediate regulatory enforcement and rigorous
public health education on the adverse effects of self-medication.
