Utilization of Medicines Available at Home by General Population of Rural and Urban Set Up of Western India

INTRODUCTION: In India, medicines are procured with prescription or without prescription by patients, which are kept at home and often are utilized in inappropriate manner. It may remain unused, get expired or may be repeated in the way of self medication. So there remains an increase chance of self-medication compared to prescribed drugs. AIM: This study was aimed to explore the utilization pattern of medicines available at home with special attention to the types of medicine (with or without prescription) and their appropriate utilization (dosage compliance) and intended self-medication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Anand district of Gujarat, India during the year 2012- 2014 after Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval. Data were collected from 800 houses, 400 each from urban and rural areas and then analysed for the details of medicines available in the house as: (i) number of homes having medicines; (ii) number of formulations with and without prescriptions; (iii) number of formulations with package inserts & expired formulations; (iv) Dosage forms of medicines; (v) pharmacological class wise distribution of medicines; (vi) status of the medicine use whether for current use, future use or leftover; and (vii) Appropriateness of medicines with and without prescription in relation to dose and duration of treatment. RESULTS: Medicines were available in 93.75% houses. More medicine formulations (16.76%) were found without prescription in urban area than in rural (11.82%). Highest number of dosage forms found, were that of tablets (62%). Among the prescribed medicines, majority of medicines were from cardiovascular disease (19.88%) and from without prescription medicines, Non-Steroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) were the major group available at houses (35.13%). The leftover medicines with prescription were 20.39% and without prescription medicines were 13.37%. Appropriate dose and duration of medicines were followed more significantly by urban people than the rural. Only 2.91% medicines were found along with package inserts and 2.94% crossed the expiry dates. CONCLUSION: The evaluation of utilization of medicines, in urban and rural population describes high drug storage, higher leftover medicines and inappropriate use of medicines and many self medicated by patients which suggests the need to educate the patients about proper and rational use of medicines.