Yohannes Mengesha and Ousman Seid
Background: People use self-medication for minor illnesses, have prior experience with the drug, and have easy access to the drugs without a prescription in their area. Self-medication during pregnancy is considered a major challenge concerning benefits and potential undesirable effects on the mother and the fetus which might contribute to maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this study assessed self-medication practice and associated factors among pregnant women at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (DCSH).
Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire among pregnant women who were attending antenatal care clinics at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from March 2023 – May 2023. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23.
Results: Among 275 respondents, the prevalence of self-medication during current pregnancy was 66.56%. Among those, 40.3% and 26.3% used herbal medicines and conventional medicine for self-medication, respectively. The most common reason for conventional medicine use was previous medication experiences 39(54.16%). The primary reason for the herbal drug was the easy accessibility of the herbs without prescription which accounted for 40 (36%). There is evidence of an association between age (x 2 = 6.196; p-value = 0.045), monthly income (x2 = 6.992; p-value = 0.030), and marital status (x 2 = 8.210; p-value = 0.042). Conventional medication use was shown to be associated with occupation (x 2 = 13.692; p-value = 0.018) and Self-medication out of pregnancy (x 2 = 24.463; p-value = 0.001). There is strong evidence of an association between monthly income (x 2 = 9.280; p-value = 0.010) with herbal medicine practice.
Conclusions: The current study showed that the prevalence of self-medication practice by pregnant women was high. Particularly, most self-medication-practicing pregnant women used herbal medicines. Self-medication practice was significantly associated with age, marital status, monthly income, and self-medication practice out of pregnancy. Conventional medicine use was significantly associated with occupation and self-medication use out of pregnancy while herbal medicine use was shown to be associated with monthly income