Prevalence of Antibiotic Self-Medication practices and their associated factors among Households in Akaki Kality Subcity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Authors: Shewa Fersha, Berhanu Senbeta , Addis Adera Gebru, Getie Mengstie

Abstract: Background: Antibiotic self-medication is one of the most common a frequently practiced for misuse and overuse of antibiotics drugs among households. The danger of self-medication rises when medications are stored and used improperly at home, which might have a negative impact on public health, the environment, and healthcare services. Yet, there is a knowledge gap in the country communities on the usage of various antibacterial drugs for self-medication. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of antibiotics drugs self-medication practices and their associated factors among Households in Akaki Kality Sub city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted from Sept, 2022 to July, 2023 among household heads in study area. Interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 624 household selected by simple random sampling technique. Data was entered into Epi Data 3.14 version then was exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. P-value <0.05 and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) was considered to determine the presence of statistically significant association between dependent and independent variables. Result was presented in text, tables and graphs. Results: The result of this study showed that the prevalence of antibiotic drug self-medication practice was found to be 530 (58.5%). [95% CI: 0.443-0.522). Self-medication with antibiotic is also significantly associated with Antibiotic drug sharing. Households who have Self-medicated with antibiotic drugs had 66.6% higher odds of being shared with antibiotic drugs than those who have not self -medicated antibiotic drugs (AOR=1.666; 95% CI: 1.154-2.407, P=0.007). Finally, the study found that various factors, including occupational status, number of children under 5 years old, and antibiotic drug sharing, were significantly associated with self-medication with antibiotics.