Prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in kindergarten children of Guangzhou city

Objective To assess the prevalence and determinants of self-medication with antibiotics among children in Guangzhou city,Guangdong province.Methods Multi-stage sampling method was used to select 1 295 kindergarten children.A self-administered questionnaire survey was used to investigate the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in the children and its influence factors.Results Totally 80.15% of families keept antibiotic at home,63.47% of the children had been given an antibiotic in the past 12 months by their guardian,31.51% of children were given amoxicillin and 25.56% given cefalexin.The parents'educational level and antibiotics kept at home were the main determinants of self-medication with antibiotics in the children.With the ascending of the parents' educational level,the probability of self-medication with antibiotics in the children decreased.Compared to the parents with education of master degree,the odds ratio(OR)value of self-medication for their child was 5.042(95% confidence interval95%CI:1.495-17.002)for the parents with primary school education,2.358(95%CI 1.150-4.838)for the parents with junior high school education,and 2.104(95%CI 1.106-4.003)for the parents with high school education,respectively.The OR value of parents implemented self-medication with antibiotics for the children in family keeping antibiotics at home was 4.792(95%CI 3.541-6.485)compared to the children with family not keeping antibotics at home.ConclusionThe prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics for kindergarten children is higher in Guangzhou.The effective education on rational use of antibiotic for the kindergarten children's parents is urgently necessary.