Prevalence, patterns and associated factors of self-medication among older adults in Ghana

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents

Variable	Categories	Count (384)	Percentage (%)
Gender	Male	129	33.6
	Female	255	66.4
Age	50–59 years	115	29.9
	60–69 years	176	45.8
	70–79 years	53	13.8
	80 years and above	40	10.4
Ethnicity	Akan	265	69.0
	Non-Akan	119	31.0
Religion	Christianity	296	77.1
	Non-Christian	88	22.9
Level of education	No formal education	78	20.3
	Basic school education	161	41.9
	High school education	114	29.7
	College/tertiary	31	8.1
Socioeconomic status	Extremely poor	65	16.9
	Quite poor	155	40.4
	Not very well off	110	28.6
	Quite well off	54	14.1
Employment status	Economically active	291	75.8
	Inactive	93	24.2
NHIS enrolment	Yes	282	73.4
	No	102	26.6

Table 2. Self-medication rates among older adults

Variable	Categories	Count (384)	Percentage (%)
Participants have self-medicated in the last 3 months	Yes	209	54.4
	No	175	45.6
How frequently do the participants self-medicate	Every week	13	3.4
	Every two weeks	43	11.2
	Once every month	231	60.2
	Every three months	97	25.3
Where the un-prescribed drug was obtained	Chemical stores (shops)	95	24.7
	Open markets	165	43.0
	Sharing medicines with relatives	76	19.8
	Leftover medicines at home	48	12.5
Reasons for self-medication	Cheap cost of drugs	87	22.7
	Quick relief from pains	102	26.6
	Availability of drugs	69	17.9
	Waiting times at health facilities	56	14.6
	Non-seriousness of the illness	70	18.2
Conditions for which they self-medicate	Cold	40	19.1
	Headache	44	21.1
	Body pains	60	28.7
	Indigestion	20	9.57
	Nasal congestion	18	8.61
	Diabetes	15	7.18
	Cardiovascular	10	4.78
	Stroke	2	0.96

Table 3. Multivariate logistic regression results on the determinants of self-medication among older adults

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Full Model
Variable	AOR	95% C.I	AOR	95% C.I	AOR	95% C.I	AOR	95% C.I
Demographic
Gender ^a
Female	2.694*	(0.031–0.047)	2.780	(0.969–7.974)	2.386	(0.719–7.920)	2.626*	(0.015–0.030)
Age (years) ^b
60–69 years	1.047	(0.244–3.075)	0.438	(0.103–1.860)	0.444	(0.081–2.438)	0.382	(0.030–4.791)
70–79 years	2.234	(0.140–3.005)	0.419	(0.076–2.308)	0.273	(0.036–2.094)	0.072	(0.005–0.999)
80 years and above	1.459*	(0.011–0.036)	0.500	(0.121–2.061)	0.419	(0.081–2.17)	0.836	(0.071–9.778)
Ethnicity ^c
Akan	1.254	(0.001–0.015)	0.013	(0.001–0.017)	0.0021	(0.0025–0.0023)	0.022	(0.001–0.0024)
Religious group ^d
Non-Christian	0.760	(0.162–1.364)	0.807	(0.238–2.735)	0.437	(0.115–1.659)	0.619	(0.097–3.961)
Marital status ^e
Married	2.572	(0.761–6.810)	2.050	(0.645–6.519)	1.950	(0.559–6.802)	2.876	(0.580–14.266)
Socio-economic
Education ^f
Basic School			1.687	(0.252–1.877)	1.387	(0.116–1.292)	1.441	(0.025–0.787)
High School			1.868	(0.199–3.794)	1.442	(0.075–2.588)	1.500	(0.017–2.374)
Tertiary education			1.672	(0.442–2.215)	1.722	(0.654–1.617)	1.825*	(0.007–0.045)
Socio-economic status ^g
Quite poor			1.343	(0.492–3.661)	1.364	(0.421–4.415)	2.275	(0.458–11.300
Not very well off			1.532	(0.396–5.932)	1.744	(0.366–8.309)	3.134	(0.416–23.599
Quite well off			1.641	(0.276–9.742)	1.652	(0.245–11.145)	2.768	(0.309–24.814)
Uninsured			3.066*	(0.022–0.048)	0.205	(0.025–1.660)	3.293*	(0.015–0.026)
No Family support			3.253	(0.065–0.655)	1.175	(0.028–0.552)	2.237	(0.010–0.600)
Health-related
No Past illness (3 months)					0.088*	(0.017–0.039)	0.036*	(0.007–0.033)
Poor health status					0.530	(0.179–1.568)	0.627	(0.135–2.909)
No NCDs					0.159*	(0.002–0.049)	0.008*	(0.001–0.012)
No Disability					2.303	(0.445–11.925)	22.151	(1.661–295.417)
Health behaviour
Non-physical activity							1.542	(0.554–14.168)
Non-alcohol users							0.457	(0.103–2.555)
Non-tobacco smokers							0.312	(0.895–120.698)
Non-fruit intake							1.535	(0.051–3.740)
Non-vegetable intake							1.202	(0.362–10.20)
Model fitting information -2Log Likelihood		143.543		123.064		112.875		83.234
Hosmer-Lemeshow χ^2 (significance)		1.354(0.865)		9.986(0.266)		10.645(0.224)		12.567(0.234)
Nagelkerke R^2		0.089		0.569		0.422		0.569

*p ˂ 0.05.

^aMale is the reference category for the gender variable

^b50–59 years is the reference category for the age variable

^cNon-Akan is the reference category for the ethnicity variable

^dChristianity is the reference category for religious variable

^e Single is the reference category for the marital status variable

^f No formal education is the reference category for the education variable

^gExtremely poor is the reference category for the socio-economic status variable

Model 1 = Demographic variables; Model 2 = All variables in Model 1 plus socio-economic variables; Model 3 = All variables in Model 2 plus health-related variables; Model 4 = All variables in Model 3 plus health behaviour variables

CI = Confidence Interval; OR = Odd Ratio; AOR = Adjusted Odd Ratio