Proceedings of 18^th International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology

Edinburgh, Scotland, August 18-21, 2002

Abstract # S228

Self-purchasing of antibiotics by Russian towns-people

L.S. STRATCHOUNSKI¹, I.V. ANDREEVA¹, S.A. RATCHINA¹, D.V. GALKIN¹, N.A. PETROTCHENKOVA¹, A.A. DEMIN², V.B. KUZIN³, S.T. KUSNETSOVA⁴, R.Y. LIKHATCHEVA⁵, S.V. NEDOGODA⁶, E.A. ORTENBERG⁷, A.S. BELIKOV⁸, I.A. TOROPOVA⁹

¹ Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Smolensk, Russia;
² Novosibirsk State Medical Academy, Novosibirsk, Russia;
³ Nizjni Novgorod State Medical Academy, Nizjni Novgorod, Russia;
⁴ Ural State Medical Academy, Ekaterinburg, Russia;
⁵ City Outpatient Clinic ¹7, Moscow, Russia;
⁶ Volgograd State Medical Academy, Volgograd, Russia;
⁷ Tyumen State Medical Academy, Tyumen, Russia;
⁸ Regional Children Hospital, Kaliningrad, Russia;
⁹ Pediatric Department, Municipal Outpatient Clinic ¹2, Yakutsk, Russia.

INTRODUCTION

Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health service problem. One of the main reasons for resistance is unjustified use of antibiotics.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate self-purchasing of antibiotics amongst non-medical population in Russia.

METHODS

The study was carried out in 9 Russian cities by physicians who visited families and elucidated background justifications for the use of antibiotics. In each city 100 families were evaluated (a total of 900 families).

RESULTS

Two hundred and ninety nine (33.2%) families purchase antibiotics on their own. The most often respondents indicated following antibiotics for self-medication: co-trimoxazole (21.7%), ampicillin (17.4%), chloramphenicol (16.7%), ciprofloxacin (8%), erythromycin (6.4%), tetracycline (5.4%), Respondents purchased antibiotics under the following conditions (in percentage of total quantity of called indications for use): cough - 15.2%, acute infections of upper respiratory tract - 11.9%, intestine disorders - 11.9%, fever - 9.1%, sore throat - 7.8%, bronchitis - 5.8%, pneumonia - 5.8%, acute tonsillitis - 5.4%.

CONCLUSION

The population admits to purchase antibiotics on over-the counter (OTC) basis. Such uncontrolled use of antibiotics has unfavorable consequences for general population due to increasing antibiotic resistance and the increase in the prevalence of infectious diseases.