Bacterial antibiotic resistance is mainly developed due to self-medication with antibiotics. The objective of this study was to estimate the occurrence of antibiotics self-medication among secondary and tertiary level students in Karachi, Pakistan. We administered a cross-sectional survey to secondary and tertiary level students (n = 780) at four institutes located in different regions of Karachi. The questionnaires consisting of 23 closed and open questions were used. The participants were asked about the patterns of antibiotic usage, reasons for self-medication, types of antibiotics used and if they completed the full course of antibiotics or not. The analysis of data was performed with descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The rate of the prevalence of antibiotics self-medication was 71.4%. The frequency of antibiotic self-medication was highest at the intervals of one month 29%. Metronidazole (67.3%) had been the most common antibiotic used. 55% of the participants said that their treatments were unsuccessful. The most critical reason given for carrying out self-medication had been that it was less expensive than medical care in hospitals 41.7%. 58% did not complete the full course of antibiotics and 48% of the participants possessed little knowledge about the adverse health effects of antibiotics, whereas 9% of the students were ignorant of any health risks correlated with self-medication with antibiotics. Based on the results of our study we conclude that irrational use of antibiotics through self-medication seems to be a common trend among tertiary level students as compared to secondary level students in Karachi. There is an urgent need of appropriate interventions to solve the problem.
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