Self-medication amongst university students of Karachi: prevalence, knowledge and attitudes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence, attitude and knowledge of self-medication amongst university students of Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: This cross-sectional, study was conducted from Jan-Feb 2007. A convenience sample was taken from 2 medical and 2 non-medical universities of the city of Karachi, Pakistan. Data was analyzed using SPSS v 14 and associations were tested using the Chi square test. RESULTS: Of the 572 participants (mean age=21 +/- 1.8 years, Male: Female ratio=1:1.5), 295 were medical and 277 were non-medical students. The prevalence of self-medication was 76%. Forty three percent students stated that they alter the regimen of prescribed medicines while 61.9% stated that they stop taking a prescribed medicine without consulting a doctor. The most common reason for self-medication was previous experience (50.1%) and the most common symptoms were headache (72.4%), flu (65.5%), and fever (55.2%). Commonly used medicines were analgesics (88.3%), antipyretics (65.1%) and antibiotics (35.2%). Eighty seven percent of students thought self-medication could be harmful and 82.5% students thought that it was necessary to consult a doctor before taking a new medicine. There was no significant difference between the self medication practices of medical and non medical students (p=0.8) CONCLUSION: Prevalence of self-medication is high in the educated youth, despite majority being aware of its harmful effects. There is a need to educate the youth to ensure safe practices. Strict policies need to be implemented on the advertising and selling of medications to prevent this problem from escalating.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder: gender differences and prevalence in a Pakistani medical student population.

BACKGROUND: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect which causes significant distress or impairment in functioning. Few studies have assessed gender differences in BDD in a non clinical population. Also no study assessed BDD in medical students. This study was designed to determine the point prevalence of BDD in Pakistani medical students and the gender differences in prevalence of BDD, body foci of concern and symptoms of BDD. METHODS: The medical students enrolled in a medical university in Karachi, Pakistan filled out a self-report questionnaire which assessed clinical features of BDD. BDD was diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. RESULTS: Out of the 156 students, 57.1% were female. A total of 78.8% of the students reported dissatisfaction with some aspect of their appearance and 5.8% met the DSM-IV criteria for BDD. The male to female ratio for BDD was 1.7. Regarding gender differences in body foci of concern, the top three reported foci of concern in male students were head hair (34.3%), being fat (32.8%), skin (14.9%) and nose(14.9%), whereas in females they were being fat (40.4%), skin (24.7%) and teeth (18%). Females were significantly more concerned about being fat (p = 0.005). Male students were significantly more concerned about being thin (p = 0.01) and about head hair (p = 0.012). CONCLUSION: BDD is fairly common in our medical student population, with a higher prevalence in males. Important gender differences in BDD symptomatology and reported body foci of concern were identified which reflected the influence of media on body image perception. The impact of cultural factors on the prevalence as well as gender differences in BDD symptomatology was also established.