Čes. slov. farm. 2015, 64(1):31-34 | DOI: 10.36290/csf.2015.006

Use of selected OTC drugs: comparing Greece and the Czech Republic

Božena Macešková^*, Eleni Pipinou

Ústav aplikované farmacie, Veterinární a farmaceutická univerzita, Brno

The use of OTC (over-the-counter) drugs containing Ibuprofen and Paracetamol in solid peroral dosage forms was researched. The questionnaire was distributed in 6 pharmacies in Athens, pharmacists interviewed the patients and recorded the answers from June to August 2014. Data from 50 patients for each substance were gathered and analyzed. The most of purchasers of Paracetamol bought it repeatedly (70.00% of respondents); Ibuprofen was preferred to be used in treating headache (81.82% of repeated users, 35.29% of the first time users), and both of the researched drugs were used with almost equal frequency in treating toothache and muscle and joint pain. Ibuprofen is used to treat awider range of symptoms than Paracetamol. People buying Paracetamol for the first time assume that it is free of side effects (73.33%) and people using it repeatedly did not observe any side effects (88.57%). The results were compared with the same research performed in the Czech Republic several years ago. Differences were detected in expecting side effects of Paracetamol (26.67% in Greece, 54.84% in the CR) and in using Ibuprofen to treat muscle and joint pain (17.65% in Greece, 47.60% in the CR).

Keywords: self-medication; paracetamol; ibuprofen; Greece

Received: February 24, 2015; Accepted: March 18, 2015; Published: January 1, 2015  Show citation