Medicines are important for treating diseases and they are responsible for improving the population's quality of life. People may well continue to use OTC medicines extensively and inappropriately to mask severe symptoms and maintain function in their daily lives. Indiscriminate use of OTC medicines might cause health risks and abuse of these medications is a national issue. This was a prospective observational study which was carried out for a period of six months in selected rural areas of Chitradurga. The study was initiated after receiving approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Selection of subjects is based on random sampling method in which the subjects of different rural areas are included. Informed consent form will be provided to subjects with a brief explanation about study and its importance in local language. A self-designed data collection form with a self-designed questionnaire is provided to obtain patient details. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and Paired t-test was used for statistical significance. P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. A total of 103 subjects were enrolled in the study from selected 3 rural areas. Selection of subjects is on the basis of randomized sampling. Out of 103 subjects 49(47.5%) were males and 54(52.5%) were females. Of this, 56(54.2%) were working and 47(45.8%) were non-working. Analgesic OTC usage pattern was common issue in literates as well as illiterates, the patterns of usage of these medications were observed to be more in workers than non-workers. 7 subjects having hangover who used single drug for their pain management. There is no relation between sleep and hangover with alcohol intake. But the hangover is due to only medicine (Analgesic) intake. 4 subjects associated with CV problems which may be attributed either to NSAID usage or other conditions. The study concludes that workers are more prone to use analgesic OTC medications. Even though there is an option of home remedy subjects are still relaying directly on medications. Cardiovascular risks associated with NSAID medications have observed but there is no clear evidence.
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