Self-Medication Awareness for Skin Rash Management by Indian University Students - A Questionnaire-Based Survey Study

  The aim of the questionnaire-based study was to survey on the awareness and usage of topical over-the-counter (OTC) products used for the management of skin rash conditions by Indian University students along with their knowledge about the product’s safety, contraindications and adverse effects. One hundred and fourty five student members (comprising of 86 of them from pharmacy stream and 59 of them belongs to other department) of which 76 were female, took part in this survey study. The average age of participants was 21.5 years. A questionnaire was developed comprising of 14 questions under three sections including socio-demograpic and economic data (age, gender and education), frequency of topical OTC product usage and allopathic or ayurvedic product information. Out of 14 questions, 4 questions were close ended questions and 10 were open-ended questions. Five percent participants experienced some types of skin rash depending on the environmental and climatic changes. Both allopathic- and ayurvedicbased dosage forms such as creams, gels, ointment, etc were the used products for the skin rash management by the participants. Seventy one percent participants comprising of non-pharmacy students were unaware of any undesirable affects and sixty nine percent (comprising of 82% pharmacist and 5% non-pharmacists) were affirmative that ayurvedic-based products had no adverse effects. This indicates that the participants had no discrimination between the allopathic and ayurvedic topical formulation for the management of skin rash condition. It can be concluded that although self-medication awareness to treat their skin rash conditions is fairly reached to the student communities, the consumers should read the drug safety profile through leaflet information present inside the package of the topical OTC formulations.