Introduction: The trend of self-medication practices is increasing worldwide especially in developing countries like the Philippines. If inappro- priately practiced, this can lead to deleterious eff ects. Despite this, literature available in this area are limited. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors that contribute to self-medication practices among dermatology patients in the out-patient clinic of a tertiary government hospital. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2020 to April 2021 in an out-patient dermatology clinic of Rizal Med- ical Center using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant characteristics while univariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine possible factors associated with self-medication. Results: The practice of self-medication was prevalent in 88.70% of the participants. The most common facilitators for self-medication were recommendation by family or friends (49%) and having a previous prescription (39%). The most common medicines utilized were topical steroids (18%), combination topical medication (16%), and anti-acne preparations (10%). On univariate analysis, the likelihood of self-medication was almost four-fold among those with a monthly income of less than PHP 9,000 compared to those who had a higher monthly income. Conclusion There is a high prevalence of self-medication among patients with dermatologic conditions. Patients with low monthly income were almost four times more likely to self-medicate.
Self Care ; Dermatology