Every week, we will provide a brief summary and a link to the published abstract of newly published papers selected from the worldwide literature as being of particular interest to the SelfCare community.
PRESCRIPTION AND OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUG TREATMENT ADMISSIONS TO THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC TREATMENT SYSTEM.
By: R Gonzales, ML Brecht, L Mooney, RA Rawson.
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 2011 April, 40(3): 224-229
Summary: Prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drug abuse has become a focal point of public health policy, prevention, and control efforts. This article reports on treatment admission data to the California addiction public system for prescription and OTC drugs among two age subgroups: adolescents 12-17 years and adults 18 years and older. Of the 6,841 admissions for primary abuse of prescription and OTC drugs in California (during 2006-2007), most adolescent admissions (12-17) were for stimulant prescription and OTC drugs (45.3% and 32.1%, respectively), whereas opioid prescription drugs (88.9%) were most common for adults 18 years and older.
FRAMING THE RISK OF AN OTC MEDICATION SIDE EFFECT.
By: J Taylor, MH Seyed, D Quest.
Canadian Pharmacists Journal, 2011 January, 144(1): 34-39
Summary: Finding the best way to communicate risk of side effects to patients can be difficult for pharmacists. This study was to examine the impact two different ways of phrasing the occurrence of a side effect has on the likelihood of a patient taking a medication. Participants were more likely to take a medication when the side effect was framed positively. Gender and recent history of experiencing a side effect did not appear to affect the results.
DO IT YOURSELF SEXUAL HEALTH CARE: THE USER EXPERIENCE.
By: P Baraitser, KC Brown, Z Gleisner et al.
Sexual Health 2011; 8(1): 23-9
Summary: Self-management within a busy walk-in, sexual health service is self-registration and take-home pregnancy tests, chlamydia and gonorrhoea tests, or condoms dispensed from a free vending machine. Between 2 September 2008 and 1 September 2009, 18657 people had 28545 attendances at the service. Of these, 1845 (6.5%) attendances were self-managed by 1555 individuals (8.3% of all clients). Users valued the opportunity to self-manage because of the reduced waiting times, autonomy and privacy that such a service offers. Users made personalised decisions about self-management based on time pressure, need for additional services and preferred source of support. Self-management is an acceptable option within sexual health services if informal support is available. Self-management options in clinical services could mean that 8% of clients at 6% of visits do not need to see a clinician, thus freeing up clinical capacity.
CAUTIONS AND WARNINGS ON THE US OTC LABEL FOR NICOTINE REPLACEMENT: WHAT’S A DOCTOR TO DO?.
By: LM Zapawa, JR Hughes, NL Benowitz, et al.
Addictive Behaviors, 2011 April; 36(4): 327-32
Summary: FDA-approved labelling for over-the-counter (OTC) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) limits duration of use to a relatively short period of time (10-12 weeks) and explicitly advises against NRT use while smoking or with additional forms of NRT. The literature suggests persistent (i.e., long-term) use of NRT does not appear harmful and self-selected persistent use is primarily driven by concerns about relapse to smoking, not addiction. Similarly, continued use of NRT and tobacco during a lapse or relapse and combination NRT treatment do not appear harmful and appear to enhance efficacy. Persistent users of NRT should be counselled to reduce and stop NRT only when they are not concerned about relapsing to smoking. Use of NRT with return to smoking during a lapse or relapse should not be automatically discontinued. Combination NRT therapy should be considered for all smokers, especially those who are unable to quit smoking using a single form of NRT.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW: SELF-MANAGEMENT SUPPORT INTERVENTIONS FOR IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME.
By: SD Dorn.
Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 2010 Aug; 32, (4), 513-21
Summary: Irritable bowel syndrome is an extremely common and costly condition. Because there is no cure, patients must be supported to manage their own condition. This study assessed systematically the interventions used to support IBS self-management. Many self-management support interventions appear to benefit patients with IBS. However, studies were limited by methodological flaws, and feasibility in ‘real world’ clinical practice is uncertain. Practical self-management interventions that can be applied across various clinical settings should be developed, and then tested in well-designed clinical trials.
THE USE DURING PREGNANCY OF PRESCRIPTION, OVER-THE-COUNTER, AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICATIONS AMONG HISPANIC WOMEN.
By: J Bercaw, B Maheshwari, H Sangi-Haghpeykar.
Birth, 2010 Sep, 37, (3), 211-8
Summary: This study was undertaken to investigate the use of herbs, vitamins, and over-the-counter and prescription medications among pregnant Hispanic women, and reasons for use, and to assess physician-patient level of communication about women’s use. During their pregnancies, 19 percent of the 485 participants in a public hospital in Houston, Texas took herbs and 47 percent took vitamin supplements, other than prenatal vitamins. The rates of use of over-the-counter and prescription medications were 23 and 29 percent, respectively. Patient education about the risks of alternative therapies may lead to a reduction in intake of alternative medicines and greater disclosure to medical practitioners among this ethnic group.
MEDIATING THE EFFECT OF SELF-CARE MANAGEMENT INTERVENTION IN TYPE 2 DIABETES: A META-ANALYSIS OF 47 RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIALS.
By: L Minet, S Moeller, W Vach, L Wagner, JE Henriksen Erik.
Patient education and counseling, 2010 Jul; 80 (1): 29-41
Summary: A meta-analysis to assess the effects of self- care management interventions in improving glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes by analysing the impact of different study characteristics on the effect size. The 47 included studies yielded 7677 participants. In type 2 diabetes, there are improvements in glycaemic control in people who receive self-care management treatment with a small advantage to intervention with an educational approach.
SELF-MEDICATION WITH ANTIBIOTICS IN EUROPE: A CASE FOR ACTION.
By: L Grigoryan, L Monnet-Dominique, FM Haaijer-Ruskamp et al.
Current Drug Safety, 2010 Oct 5(4), 329-332
Summary: Unlike most other drugs that only affect individual patients if used incorrectly for self-medication, misused antibiotics add to the global risk of increased spread of bacterial resistance. This review focuses on self-medication with antibiotics in Europe and its determinants.
Abstract.
RISKS OF SELF-MEDICATION PRACTICES.
By: ME Ruiz.
Current Drug Safety, 2010 Oct 5(4), 315-23
Summary: Self-medication is defined as the selection and use of medicines by individuals (or a member of the individuals’ family) to treat self-recognized or self-diagnosed conditions or symptoms. Several benefits have been linked to appropriate self-medication, among them: increased access to medication and relief for the patient, the active role of the patient in his or her own health care, better use of physicians and pharmacists skills and reduced (or at least optimized) burden of governments due to health expenditure linked to the treatment of minor health conditions. However, self-medication is far from being a completely safe practice. The author discusses measures that could be adopted in order to solve or improve safety issues.
Abstract