Epidemiological analysis of self-medication of kit-COVID by university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Self-medication is practiced on one's own initiative and without seeking professional guidance to alleviate health discomfort. Due to the overload of university tasks, the fear of infection and the excessive sharing of inaccurate information in scientific studies, university students may have self-medicated with medicines that came to be known as Kit-COVID, as they were consumed inappropriately to treat the disease. coronavirus disease, during the pandemic period. Objective: To analyze the epidemiological profile of self-medication of medicines known as Kit-COVID by university students, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is an analytical cross-sectional study, carried out in 2022, using a form sent to colleges. The prevalence of self-medication was calculated and a binomial logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: Among the 384 participants, a prevalence of 14.32% of self-medication with the COVID Kit was detected and it was observed that the majority were female and from non-health-related courses. Furthermore, corticosteroids, azithromycin, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were used by 44.78%, 29.86%, 22.38% and 2.98% of students, respectively. An association (p < 0.028) was detected between students who consumed the COVID-Kit and who have comorbidities, in addition to showing that students with these diseases had an odds ratio of 2.324 for using the COVID-Kit. Conclusions: Our study showed that the practice of self-medication using the well-known COVID-Kit was carried out by university students and it was observed that corticosteroids were the most used class of medication. Furthermore, it was detected that students who have comorbid illnesses may have a greater tendency to consume medications from the Kit.

Key words: Self Medication; Students; Chloroquine; Azithromycin; Ivermectin; COVID-19.