Self-medication practices among Vietnamese residents in highland provinces

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of respondents (n=1000)

Characteristics	n	%
Age groups
≤30 years old	391	39.1
31–40 years old	304	30.4
41–50 years old	137	13.7
51–60 years old	113	11.3
>60 years old	55	5.5
Gender
Male	421	42.1
Female	579	57.9
Occupations
Work in agriculture/fishery/forestry sector	764	76.4
White-collar worker	41	4.1
Business	55	5.5
Self-employed	53	5.3
Retirement	23	2.3
Housemaker	45	4.5
Other	19	1.9
Education
Illiterate	121	12.1
Elementary school	229	22.9
Secondary school	367	36.7
High school	198	19.8
Vocational training/college	58	5.8
University/postgraduate	27	2.7
Ethnic
Kinh	450	45.0
Gia rai	124	12.4
E de	44	4.4
Xo dang	71	7.1
Mnong	102	10.2
Cil	61	6.1
Nung	33	3.3
Ro ngao	65	6.5
Other	50	5.0
Number of children in the family
0	252	25.2
1	560	56.0
2	175	17.5
≥3	13	1.3
Household economic (government’s classification)
Poor	179	17.9
Near-poor	119	11.9
Nonpoor	702	70.2
	Mean	SD
Age	36.7	12.7
Number of members in the family	4.9	1.8
Number of members having health insurance in family	4.2	2.1
Annual household income (million VND)	79.0	102.1

Table 2 Self-medication practices (n=1000)

Characteristics	n	%
Only buy medicine at pharmacy stores when having any illnesses
Yes	208	20.8
No	792	79.2
Reasons for buying medicine at pharmacy stores only when having any illnesses (n=208)
Being recommended by relatives/friends	13	6.3
Believe in professional competences	58	27.9
Availability of many types of drugs	33	15.9
Quality of medicines is good, reliable	23	11.1
Good service attitude	5	2.4
Reasonable price	7	3.4
Near home	120	57.7
Open hour is convenient	17	8.2
Frequency of self-medication in the last 12 months
Usually (>50% number of times sick)	186	18.6
Sometimes (>0–50% number of times sick)	647	64.7
Never (0% number of times sick)	167	16.7
	Mean	SD
Times of self-medication in the last 12 months	4.5	4.1

Table 3 Self-medication according to different characteristics (n=1000)

Characteristics	Self-medication in the last 12 months				p-value
	No		Yes
	n	%	n	%
Total	167	16.7	833	83.3
Gender
Male	53	12.6	368	87.4	<0.01
Female	114	19.7	465	80.3
Occupations
Work in agriculture/fishery/forestry sector	121	15.8	643	84.2	<0.01
White-collar worker	15	36.6	26	63.4
Business	6	10.9	49	89.1
Self-employed	8	15.1	45	84.9
Other	17	19.5	70	80.5
Education
Less than high school	113	15.8	604	84.2	0.37
High school	36	18.2	162	81.8
More than high school	18	21.2	67	78.8
Ethnic
Kinh	61	13.6	389	86.4	<0.01
Gia rai	29	234	95	76.6
E de	13	29.6	31	70.5
Xo dang	10	14.1	61	85.9
Mnong	21	20.6	81	79.4
Cil	6	9.8	55	90.2
Nung	3	9.1	30	90.9
Ro ngao	16	24.6	49	75.4
Other	8	16.0	42	84.0
Household economic (government’s classification)
Poor	32	17.9	147	82.1	0.21
Near-poor	26	21.9	93	78.2
Nonpoor	109	15.5	593	84.5
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age	36.2	12.7	36.8	12.6	0.47
Number of members in the family	4.7	1.7	4.9	1.8	0.24
Number of children in the family	1.0	0.7	0.9	0.7	0.12
Number of members having health insurance in family	4.1	1.9	4.2	2.1	0.66
Annual household income (million VND)	68.9	75.0	81.0	106.7	0.01

Table 4 Associated factors with self-treatment practices

Characteristics	Only buy medicines at pharmacy stores when having illness in the last 12 months (yes/no)		Self-medication in the last 12 months (yes/no)		Times of self-medication in the last 12 months
	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI	Coef.	95% CI
Age (years)	0.99	0.97; 1.00	0.99	0.97; 1.01	−0.00	−0.00; 0.00
Gender
Male
Female	0.62**	0.43; 0.88	0.59*	0.40; 0.88	0.06	−0.01; 0.12
Education
Less than high school
High school	0.74	0.48; 1.16	0.68	0.42; 1.08	−0.04	−0.11; 0.04
More than high school	0.86	0.43; 1.70	1.09	0.49; 2.42	−0.03	−0.15; 0.10
Ethnics
Kinh
Gia rai	0.48*	0.25; 0.91	0.45*	0.23; 0.88	−0.31**	−0.43; −0.18
E de	0.46	0.18; 1.18	0.34*	0.15; 0.79	−0.37**	−0.55; −0.19
Xo dang	0.25**	0.11; 0.58	0.94	0.40; 2.20	−0.14*	−0.28; −0.00
Mnong	0.08**	0.03; 0.21	0.51	0.26; 1.02	−0.56**	−0.70; −0.42
Cil	0.82	0.41; 1.64	1.40	0.55; 3.55	−0.04	−0.16; 0.09
Nung	0.58	0.23; 1.44	1.35	0.38; 4.77	−0.09	−0.25; 0.07
Ro ngao	0.24**	0.10; 0.59	0.47	0.21; 1.07	−0.48**	−0.66; −0.31
Other	0.54	0.25; 1.18	0.88	0.38; 2.06	−0.02	−0.15; 0.12
Occupations
Work in agriculture/fishery/forestry sector
White-collar worker	0.53	0.16; 1.73	0.25**	0.10; 0.62	−0.32**	−0.51; −0.12
Business	1.56	0.80; 3.02	1.00	0.39; 2.52	0.10	−0.02; 0.22
Self-employed	0.66	0.32; 1.38	0.60	0.26; 1.41	−0.09	−0.23; 0.04
Other	1.56	0.80; 3.02	1.00	0.39; 2.52	0.10	−0.02; 0.22
Household economic
Poor	0.61	0.30; 1.21	0.70	0.38; 1.31	−0.12	−0.24; 0.00
Nonpoor	0.75	0.46; 1.21	0.86	0.51; 1.43	−0.05	−0.14; 0.04
Number of children in the family	1.11	0.84; 1.46	0.68*	0.50; 0.91	−0.05	−0.10; 0.00
Number of members in the family	1.38**	1.20; 1.59	1.10	0.93; 1.29	0.07**	0.04; 0.10
Number of members having health insurance in family	0.82**	0.73; 0.93	1.01	0.88; 1.16	−0.03*	−0.05; −0.01
Log annual household income	0.78*	0.63; 0.96	1.12	0.88; 1.41	0.08**	0.04; 0.12

Notes: **P<0.01, *P<0.05.

Table S1  Questionnaire

Order	QUESTION	ANSWER
C1.	Age
C2.	Gender	1. Male
		2. Female
C3.	What is your ethnicity?	Kinh	10. Hrê
		2. H’Mông	11. Ba na
		3. Gia rai	12. Cơ ho
		4. Xtiêng	13. Giẻ triêng
		5. Chu ru	14. Ra Glai
		6. Mường	15. Mạ
		7. Ê đê	16. Thái
		8. Xơ đăng	17. Other
		9. Mnông	17. (specify:……………………)
C4.	What is your education level?	1. Illiterate
		2. Elementary
		3. Secondary
		4. High school
		5. Vocational training/College
		6. University/postgraduate
C4.	What is your current main occupation?	1. Work in agriculture / fishery / forestry sector
		2. White-collar worker
		3. Business
		4. Freelancer
		5. Retirement
		6. Housemaker
		7. Other (specify………………….)
C6.	How many people living in your household?	peopleNumber of children: ……………
C7.	How many people in your household had health insurance card?	people
C8.	What is your household’s annual income?	……………………………VND
C8.	What is your household’ economic classification according to the government standard?	1. Poor 2. Near-poor 3. Nonpoor
C8.	Self-medication is defined as a person utilized medicines without instructions of physicians. This behavior includes the use of over-the-counter medications and precription-only medications, reutilization of prior prescriptions, consuming medicines based on recommendations from relatives or other unqualified people (e.g., friends, drug sellers, etc.) or using leftover drugs at home. This term also consists of the use of any herbal products, vitamins or supplements that are not prescribed by the physicians.
C10.	In the last 12 months, how many times did you use medicines without prescription from qualified physicians?	1. Usually (>50% number of times sick)2. Sometimes (>0-50% number of times sick)3. Never (0% number of times sick)Times:…………………………….……………….……….
C11.	In your family, do you have some common medicines available to promptly use / treat when having a minor illness?	1. Always available 2. None
C12.	What are the following types of medications available at home?	1. Flu medicines: rhinitis, cough medicine, phlegm, syrup 2. Analgesics and antipyretics 3. Antibiotics 4. Anti-inflammatory drugs 5. Salt water (NaCl 0.9%) eye drops 6. Medication for intestinal and digestive treatment 7. Medications for blood pressure treatment 8. Vitamins, functional foods 9. Medicines for headache, dizziness, car sickness, nausea 10. Birth control pills 10. Topical antiseptic: antiseptic, betadine, … 12. Topical / spray medicine when burned 13. Topical medicine, anti-allergy, rash, dermatitis … 14. Herbal medicine 15. Other (specify) ……………………………………………………………..
C13.	In the last 12 months, when you or your family member is sick, where do you usually buy / receive medicine for treatment? (Multiple choice questions)	1. Health village 2. Commune health station 3. District hospital / district general clinic 4. Provincial hospital 5. Private pharmacy 6. Private health facilities 7. Physicians 8. Do not take medicine 9. Other (specify) …………………………………… 10. Don't know
C14.	If only buy medicines in pharmacy, what are your reasons?	1. Being recommended by relatives/friends 2. Believe in professional competences 3. Availability of many types of drugs 4. Quality of medicines is good, reliable 5. Good service attitude 6. Reasonable price 7. Near home 8. Open hour is convenient 9. Other reasons (specify) …………………………………