Self-medication in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A cross-sectional study in northern Peru

• Autores: Vasquez-Elera, Luis E., Failoc-Rojas, Virgilio E., Martinez-River, Raisa N., Morocho-Alburqueque, Noelia, Temoche-Rivas, Mario S., Valladares-Garrido, Mario J.
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2022
• Institución: Universidad Privada Norbert Wiener
• Repositorio: UWIENER-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.uwiener.edu.pe:20.500.13053/6909
• Enlace del recurso: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13053/6909; https://doi.org/10.18683/germs.2022.1305
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: SARS-CoV-2; epidemiology; risk factors; public health, environmental and occupational health; Peru.; http://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#3.03.00

Introduction This study aimed to identify factors associated with self-medication in patients with COVID-19. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using medical records of patients with COVID-19 who self-medicated before admission to a hospital in Piura, Peru. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using generalized linear models with Poisson distribution family, log link function, and robust variance. Results Out of 301 patients, 165 (54.8%) self-medicated before hospital admission, being more frequent self-medication with ivermectin (85.5%) and azithromycin (71.5%). The frequency of self-medication in those aged between 30-59 years was 2.53-fold higher than in those between 18-29 years. Male patients, dyslipidemia, smoking, and hepatic steatosis were associated with self-medication. Clinical characteristics associated with self-medication were fever, cough, headache, anosmia, dysgeusia, nausea/vomiting, and gastroesophageal reflux. Conclusions A high frequency of self-medication before hospital admission was observed in Peruvian patients with COVID-19, mainly of drugs without proven efficacy.