Survey on the status of self-treatment among urban and rural residents of Hebei Province

OBJECTIVE The study was conducted to assess the current status of self-treatment among urban and rural residents of Hebei Province. METHODS Urban and rural residents from Shijiazhuang, Baoding, and Tangshan were home-visit surveyed by a self-designed questionnaire in January of 2012. RESULTS 72.34% of the residents, especially those in urban areas, preferred self-treatment. 96.00% of the residents chose to buy medicines produced by well-known manufacturers when self-medicating. 50.27-55.59% of the residents would alter dosages and intervals of medication; 26.60% of the residents had taken medicines irregularly and 20.21% had stopped their medications upon relief of the symptoms. Less than 85% of the urban residents and 75% of the rural residents would read the main content of medication instructions before self-treating; the rate was significantly lower in rural than in urban areas. CONCLUSION Self-treatment is common among urban and rural residents of Hebei Province. However, compliance of the self-treatments is poor and varies between urban and rural residents.