A survey on the expectations and knowledge level of people who buy alternative medicine drugs without prescription from the central Aydın pharmacies

Aim: Over-the-counter (OTC) drug use is extremely common all around the world. This study aims to find out the relation between the sociodemogrophic features and preferred drugs, to identify drug preferences and to evaluate opinions on CAM of individuals who admitted to the pharmacies for OTC drugs in Aydin. Method: This study was designed as a voluntary-based cross-sectional descriptive study. It was approved by Adnan Menderes University Medical School Ethics Committee. The target population was 18 year old and above who resides in Aydin. The sample size was identified as 842 individuals (according to the anticipated relevance 50% (p 50%), type 1 alpha tolerance 0.05 and 95 % reliability range from the EPI INFO STATCALC statistical software). The questionnaires were applied to the individuals who came to buy OTC drugs from pharmacies chosen among the Aydın Pharmasists Association records by randomized sampling. The questionnaire forms were applied face to face and filled by the pollsters. It was applied to 25 individuals before shaping the final version. During the pollsters' visit, 851 consecutive adults (18-year-old and above) volunteer individuals took part in the research and they were asked to sign an informed consent form. The data were assessed by SPSS 18 package program. A p value smaller than 0.05 (p<0.05) was accepted as statistically significant. Results: Totally 851 individuals took part in the study. Among them, 393 were women. Ages ranged between18-87. The mean age of the participants was 40.25±13.85. Among total, 56,1% of them had higher education. Of the total, 29.5% of them didn't have a permanent doctor. The rest 41.8% was being followed by a family physician or another type of specialist, 1.1% was being followed by both family physician and other specialty groups. Of the total, 46.2% of them had chronic diseases. Married ones, middle school (8 year compulsory education) graduates, smokers or quitters, and the ones not being followed by a family physician had more chronic diseases. Although they had a chronic disease, 37.5% weren't using drugs for their diseases. Analgesics were the most common preferred drugs and the flu drugs followed them by 10.5 %. The participants with the chronic diseases were buying drugs for their diseases. Of the total, 85.4 % of the participants declared that they followed the recommendations of their doctors, especially their family physician. Most of our participants admitted to an official health care center. Of the total, 37.5 % of them stated that they used herbal drugs or herbal treatments. Female gender, higher income, chronic diseases, and being followed by family physicians were the factors that played role in use of more herbal treatment and drugs. Among the participants who had children, 22.9% of them tried an unusual treatment other than conventional medical treatments within the last year. Female gender, higher income, and being a medical worker were factors on use of traditional methods on their children. Of the total, 71.2 % of the participants stated that herbal treatments could support the medical treatments and 19.1% of the total declared that herbal treatments were completely harmless. Conclusion: In our study, we found out that most of our participants had higher level of education, higher income, living in urban parts, had social security policies. Analgesics were the most commonly bought non-prescribed drugs. Participants, who were followed by their family physicians, were more likely compatible with their doctors' recommendations. Besides, our participants generally thought that CAM methods could support the medical treatments. Key words: Pharmacy, over-the-counter (OTC) drug, family physician follow, thinking about CAM.