Prevalence and associated factors of self-medication among rural residents in Xiji county of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Objective To describe the prevalence of self-medication and to explore associated factors of self-medication among rural residents in Xiji county of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Ningxia).Methods The data on 2 062 rural residents reported having diseases during the two weeks before the time of survey were extracted from the datasets of Rural Residents Family Health Questionnaire Survey sponsored collaboratively by Ningxia Health Bureau and Harvard/Oxford University Research Team conducted in 2009,2011 and 2012.Associated factors of self-medication were studied with unconditioned logistic regression analysis.Results Among the 2 062 two-weeks disease sufferers,52.91% reported self-medication,with 39.82% having complete self-medication and 13.09% having combined self-medication (visiting doctors first and then having self-medication);compared to the Hui disease sufferers,the Han disease sufferers reported higher ratios of complete self-medication (42.44% vs.38.08%) and combined self-medication (57.20% vs.50.08%).No significant yearly difference in the reported prevalence of self-medication was observed.The drugs used for the self-medication were mainly purchased from pharmacies (28.71%) and medical institutions (14.99%).Multiple regression analysis showed that the times of visiting a doctor was an influencing factor of complete and combined self-medication;compared to the disease sufferers visiting a doctor only once,the disease sufferers visiting a doctor two times and three times or more were more likely to have complete self-medication (odds ratioOR=7.215,95% confidence interval95%CI:4.223-13.727 and OR=72.169,95%CI:43.598-129.5677) and combined self-medication (OR=2.486,95%CI:1.704-3.489 and OR=10.721,95%CI:6.878-14.0763).Conclusion The prevalence of self-medication was high and mainly influenced by the times of visiting a doctor among rural residents in Xiji county of Ningxia.