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Frequency and causes of self-medication in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis, North of Iran, 2018–2019

  • Rhinology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a frequent respiratory disease. As self-medication is a common issue in the world, this study aimed to estimate its frequency in patients with CRS.

Methods

144 CRS patients referred to a university hospital, were evaluated for self-medication, included type, duration, frequency, and its causes, their SNOT-22 questionnaire and Lund–MacKay scores. The data were analyzed using SPSS v.21 and the level of significance was considered as P ≥ 0.05.

Results

30.6% of the cases used self-medication (65.9% used chemical drugs and 63.6% used herbal drugs), not associated with their age, gender, educational or economic level. The most common chemical drugs were antibiotics, analgesics and decongestants (75.9%, 55.2% and 10.3%, respectively) and the most common non-pharmaceutical agents included steam inhalation and herbal infusions (71.4%). The efficacy of self-medication was rated as “none” to “little” in 54.64% of cases. The mean SNOT-22 score was 59.54 ± 10.93 and 73.27 ± 8.12 in cases without and with self-medication (P = 0.034), and the mean Lund–MacKay score was 11.8 ± 5.3 and 17.2 ± 4.3 in cases without and with self-medication, respectively (P = 0.002). The top reasons for self-medication were “considering the disease unimportant” and believing chemical drugs being “harmful”, “expensive”, or “non-effective”. Most patients who used self-medication did “not” advise it to others (80%).

Conclusion

The high rate of self-medication in CRS patients calls for greater attention to this issue in these patients. It seems that self-medication is significantly associated with more severe grades of disease and lower QOL in CRS cases.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to gratefully thank the participants for their support in the study.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

    Shirin Parvinroo & Hossein Rouhi Khalkhali Pargam

  2. Otorhinolaryngology Research Center, Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Amir Al-Momenin Hospital, 4139637459, Rasht, Iran

    Rastin Hosseinzadeh Asli & Shadman Nemati

  3. Razi Clinical Research Development Unit, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

    Elahe Rafiei

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  1. Shirin Parvinroo
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Correspondence to Shadman Nemati.

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This manuscript is derived from a research project that has been used as a thesis for his doctorate in pharmacy with the research ethics number including: IR.GUMS.REC.1398.531 which is done in Guilan university of medical science in Rasht, Iran.

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Parvinroo, S., Rouhi Khalkhali Pargam, H., Hosseinzadeh Asli, R. et al. Frequency and causes of self-medication in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis, North of Iran, 2018–2019. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 279, 3973–3980 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07224-3

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