<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The most common cause of antibiotic resistance is the irrational use of antibiotics. Most of the irrational use of antibiotics is related to use in the community and the prevalence of self-medication in different populations. This review aimed to explore the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in European countries and the main sources of antibiotics. An online search of Pubmed and Scopus was conducted to identify relevant studies. A two-phase mapping approach was used. All steps in this scoping review were carried out using the Covidence® software. A total of 22 studies were included. The prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics is greater in Southern European countries than in Northern and Western European countries. The main sources of over-the-counter antibiotics are community pharmacies and leftovers from previous courses. Targeted communication strategies and interventions are needed to reduce the overuse of antibiotics and to slow down the spread of antibiotic resistance until new classes of effective antibiotics are developed.</p>
</abstract>

The most common cause of antibiotic resistance is the irrational use of antibiotics. Most of the irrational use of antibiotics is related to use in the community and the prevalence of self-medication in different populations. This review aimed to explore the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in European countries and the main sources of antibiotics. An online search of Pubmed and Scopus was conducted to identify relevant studies. A two-phase mapping approach was used. All steps in this scoping review were carried out using the Covidence® software. A total of 22 studies were included. The prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics is greater in Southern European countries than in Northern and Western European countries. The main sources of over-the-counter antibiotics are community pharmacies and leftovers from previous courses. Targeted communication strategies and interventions are needed to reduce the overuse of antibiotics and to slow down the spread of antibiotic resistance until new classes of effective antibiotics are developed.

Prevalence of Self-Medication with Antibiotics in Europe: A Scoping Review

Journal of Biomedical and Clinical Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Prevalence of Self-Medication with Antibiotics in Europe: A Scoping Review"}

The most common cause of antibiotic resistance is the irrational use of antibiotics. Most of the irrational use of antibiotics is related to use in the...

Prevalence of Self-Medication with Antibiotics in Europe: A Scoping Review

Publié en ligne: 10 août 2023

Pages: 5 - 16

Reçu: 29 sept. 2022

Accepté: 15 juin 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jbcr-2023-0001

Mots clés
antibiotics, self-medication, a scoping review

© 2023 Hristina V. Lebanova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Prevalence of Self-Medication with Antibiotics in Europe: A Scoping Review

Publié en ligne: 10 août 2023

Pages: 5 - 16

Reçu: 29 sept. 2022

Accepté: 15 juin 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jbcr-2023-0001

Mots clésantibiotics, self-medication, a scoping review

© 2023 Hristina V. Lebanova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
antibiotics, self-medication, a scoping review