OBJECTIVES: This community based project was undertaken with the aim to assess the perceptions and practices of self-medication among the residents of an urban community in a metropolitan Indian city.

METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based observational study which was carried out for a period of 6 months. The survey was conducted using a semi-structured pre-validated questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Version 21.0.

RESULTS: Among 272 participants, the prevalence of self-medication was found to be 69.9% which was more common among the age group 18-27 years with male predominance (32.6%) when compared to females (31.7%). Allopathic practices dominated the ancient ayurvedic practices in the study community. Majority of the respondents (32.8%) relied on acetaminophen for their minor ailments. The most common reasons to resort to self-medication was considering one’s ailment as minor. Local pharmacies were the significant source of self- medication (40.8%) [OR=0.21, 95% CI (0.051-0.939, p=0.046]. 10.5% of the participants deliberately changed the dosing of the medications during the course of self-treatment, which can be owed to their confidence in diagnosing the illness (p < 0.05) as well as previous expertise with the same condition (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of self-medication among our study population was alarmingly high. Hence there is a need to ensure community education, safety and efficacy regarding self-medication practices to ensure responsible and rational use of self-medications.