Screening of risk information on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and evaluation of the relationship with health literacy of individuals aged 18-65 who apply to Ondokuz Mayis University Education family HEALTH centers and use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

AIM: The aim of this study is to scan the knowledge of patients aged 18-65 years using non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs about the risks of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and to evaluate its relationship with health literacy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional, descriptive survey study. A face-to-face survey method was applied to patients aged 18-65 who applied to the education family health centers in Samsun between 01/09/2022-28/02/2023. The data of 243 people were analyzed within the scope of the study. IBM SPSS 22.0 was used for data analysis. The statistical significance level was accepted as p <0.05. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 47.3±11.9, and 72% of them were female. 69.1% of the participants knew that there was a risk of side effects on the stomach and intestines. The mean side effect knowledge score was found to be 3.04±1.91. The health literacy levels of the participants were found as 13.2% insufficient, 61.3% problematic/limited, 16.0% adequate and 9.5% excellent health literacy. A significant difference was found between income status, education status, employment status, presence of chronic disease, regular drug use and health literacy levels (p<0.05). No significant correlation was found between side effect knowledge scores and health literacy scores (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The most well-known side effect of NSAIDs was the side effects on the stomach and intestines. There was no significant relationship between the health literacy of the participants and their side effect knowledge.