Abstract

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF ANALGESIC MISUSE AMONG URBAN YOUNG ADULTS OF EAST SIKKIM, NORTH EAST INDIA

Dr. Deepanjana Dass*

ABSTRACT

Prescription medications are being consumed worldwide without any medical supervision, which has given rise to a huge global problem and most importantly prescription analgesic misuse has emerged as a serious health issue. Several studies have been conducted in different countries to understand the prevalence and characteristics of analgesic misuse. However, little information is available from India describing the magnitude of analgesic misuse. The objective of this study is to estimate the knowledge, attitude and practice of analgesic misuse among urban young adults of East Sikkim, North East India. A pre-devised questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics and the population survey of analgesic misuse was administered to n=700 participants after obtaining the informed consent. Data was statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. 94.5% participants were unaware of the effects of analgesic misuse and also reported the easy availability of analgesics (97.8%). 97.8% of the participants used analgesics to relieve pain and only 3.9% changed analgesics, out of which 1.6% changed analgesics because of self-medication and the rest because of non-availability of the previous analgesics and as per advice from their peers. Most of the participants were found to be using mostly one analgesic in past month (63.7%) in tablet form (92.3%) for less than 10 days (53.8%) a month. The attitude, practice, awareness and knowledge about analgesic misuse as a problem in the communities are less among the respondents in the study.

Keywords: Analgesic, attitude, knowledge, misuse, Sikkim.