Recognizing Child Parental Antibiotic Selfmedication: Origins, Trends, And Consequences

• Original Article | Vol No.5 | Issue No. 1

Abstract

Objective: Identifying parental reasons for self-treating children under ten years of age with antibiotics and their public health implications for creating targeted interventions for antibiotic control reports of infectious disease.

Study Design: A Cross-sectional

Study Place and Duration of Study: From 11- January 2023 to 11-July 2023, this research was carried out at the Peoples university of Medical Health Sciences Nawab Shah Department of Pediatrics.

Materials and Methods: 100 kids under ten who got antibiotics from their parents without a prescription were included in the study. Parents were questioned using a pre-made, structured questionnaire written in English and translated into Urdu. We investigated the factors that affect parents’ understanding of the hazards associated with overusing antibiotics as well as their decision to self-administer antibiotics to their children.

Results: Important information on parental antibiotic self-medication was found in the research. The antibiotics most often overused were azithromycin, co-amoxiclav, cefixime, and clarithromycin. The most common reasons for self-administration of antibiotics were fever, skin rashes, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Mothers were the primary initiators of antibiotic use, closely followed by male children beginning their consumption. These findings highlight the need for focused initiatives, especially when it comes to treating common pediatric diseases, to raise parental knowledge of the proper use of antibiotics and the possible hazards associated with indiscriminate self-medication.

Conclusion: It is exceedingly unusual for parents to give their kids medications on their own, which leads to the excessive use of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistance. The entire public, especially parents, should be made aware of this situation to halt the danger to global health. Policies that prohibit easy access to antibiotics should be applied with greater efficacy