Gender Differences in Predictors of Self-Medication with Tranquillizers and Sleeping Pills: Results of the Population-Based Study in Serbia

Prevalence of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills in the Serbian male population and association with selected socio-demographic, health, and healthcare system characteristics, n=7,053_

Female population characteristics	Prevalence of TSP self-medication, (%)	95% CI	Crude OR	95% CI
Female TSP users	2.2	1.9–2.6
Age (years)
15–24	0.4	0.1–0.7	-	-
25–34	0.9	0.4–1.5	2.72	0.82–9.04
35–44	2.0	1.2–2.8	5.86	1.91–18.07
45–54	2.8	1.8–3.7	8.31	2.77–24.99
55–64	3.1	2.2–4.1	9.34	3.14–27.78
65–74	4.1	2.7–5.6	12.54	4.15–37.86
≥ 75	3.3	1.8–4.9	10.09	3.20–31.80
Employment status
Employed	1.4	1.0–1.8	-	-
Unemployed	2.9	2.1–3.7	2.08	1.37–3.16
Pupil/Student	0.5	0.1–0.9	0.29	0.09–1.00
Retiree	3.6	2.7–4.5	2.63	1.76–3.91
Education
No formal education/Primary school	2.0	1.3–2.6	-	-
Secondary school	2.4	2.0–2.9	1.25	0.84–1.87
Undergraduate/Postgraduate studies	2.0	1.2–2.8	1.00	0.58–1.72
Self-assessment of health status
Very good/Good/Fair	1.6	1.3–1.9	-
Poor/Very poor	6.9	5.1–8.6	4.52	3.24–6.30
Presence of chronic disease
No	0.6	0.3–0.9	-
Yes	4.0	3.3–4.7	6.73	4.30–10.53
Exposure to stress during four weeks prior to the interview
No/Yes, not more than others	1.5	1.2–1.8	-
Yes, more than others/Yes, unbearable	8.5	6.4–10.6	6.03	4.32–8.40
Physical pain during four weeks prior to the interview
No/Very mild	1.0	0.7–1.2	-
Mild/Moderate	5.2	4.0–6.3	5.57	3.87–8.03
Severe/Very severe	5.7	3.8–7.6	6.18	3.95–9.66
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to a long waiting time for health service
No	2.5	2.0–3.0	-
No need for healthcare	0.7	0.3–1.0	0.27	0.16–0.45
Yes	6.4	4.6–8.3	2.72	1.89–3.92
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to distance or transportation barriers
No	2.8	2.3–3.3	-
No need for healthcare	0.6	0.3–0.9	0.22	0.13-0.38
Yes	10.2	6.1–14.4	4.00	2.48-6.47
Satisfaction with public health service
Very satisfied/Satisfied	2.0	1.5–2.5	-
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	2.5	1.8–3.2	1.25	0.86–1.82
Dissatisfied/Very dissatisfied	3.4	2.3–4.4	1.68	1.13–2.50
Satisfaction with private health service
Very satisfied/Satisfied	2.6	2.0–3.3	-
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	2.2	1.3–3.1	0.82	0.51–1.33
Dissatisfied/Very dissatisfied	4.0	1.9–6.1	1.53	0.85–2.77

Potential predictors of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills among selected socio-demographic, health, and healthcare system characteristics in the Serbian female population, n=7,570_

Female population characteristics	Adjusted OR	95% CI
Age (years)
15–24	-
25–34	1.86	0.71–4.84
35–44	2.63	1.00–6.88*
45–54	3.37	1.30–8.72
55–64	4.75	1.83–12.33
65–74	2.96	1.10–7.97
≥75	2.62	0.96–7.14
Employment status
Employed	-
Unemployed	1.14	0.84–1.55
Pupil/Student	1.13	0.40–3.25
Retiree	1.03	0.72–1.48
Education
No formal education/Primary school	-
Secondary school	1.06	0.83–1.35
Undergraduate/Postgraduate studies	0.84	0.58–1.21
Self-assessment of health status
Very good/Good/Fair	-
Poor/Very poor	0.87	0.67–1.13
Presence of chronic disease
No	-
Yes	2.57	1.83–3.61
Exposure to stress in the four weeks prior to interview
No/Yes, not more than others	-
Yes, more than others/Yes, unbearable	2.51	1.99–3.16
Physical pain in the four weeks prior to interview
No/Very mild	-
Mild/Moderate	1.43	1.11–1.83
Severe/Very severe	1.49	1.12–1.99
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to a long waiting time for health service
No	-
No need for healthcare	0.69	0.33–1.43
Yes	1.09	0.82–1.44
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to distance or transportation barriers
No	-
No need for healthcare	1.15	0.78–1.71
Yes	1.07	0.54–2.13

Potential predictors of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills among selected socio-demographic, health, and healthcare system characteristics in the Serbian male population, n=7,053_

Male population characteristics	Adjusted OR	95% CI
Age (years)
15–24	-
25–34	2.36	0.53–10.56
35–44	3.62	0.81–16.27
45–54	3.66	0.82–16.31
55–64	3.08	0.68–13.85
65–74	3.95	0.80–19.40
≥75	3.17	0.62–16.17
Employment status
Employed	-
Unemployed	1.86	1.19–2.91
Pupil/Student	1.65	0.31–8.81
Retiree	1.30	0.69–2.46
Self-assessment of health status
Very good/Good/Fair	-
Poor/Very poor	1.09	0.72–1.64
Presence of chronic disease
No	-
Yes	2.32	1.38–3.90
Exposure to stress in the four weeks prior to interview
No/Yes, not more than others	-
Yes, more than others/Yes, unbearable	3.25	2.24–4.73
Physical pain in the four weeks prior to the interview
No/Very mild	-
Mild/Moderate	2.68	1.81–3.99
Severe/Very severe	1.85	1.10–3.12
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to the long waiting time for health service
No	-
No need for healthcare	1.94	0.52–7.25
Yes	1.43	0.93–2.18
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to distance or transportation barriers
No	-
No need for healthcare	0.28	0.08–1.06
Yes	1.55	0.87–2.76
Satisfaction with public health service
Very satisfied/Satisfied	-
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	1.09	0.73–1.63
Dissatisfied/Very dissatisfied	0.99	0.64–1.54

Prevalence of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills in the Serbian female population and association with selected socio-demographic, health, and healthcare system characteristics, n=7,570_

Female population characteristics	Prevalence of TSP self-medication, (%)	95% CI	Crude OR	95% CI
Female TSP users	5.6	5.0–6.1
Age (years)
15–24	1.0	0.4–1.7	-
25–34	2.4	1.5–3.2	2.20	1.07–4.54
35–44	4.0	2.9–5.1	3.85	1.96–7.60
45–54	6.6	5.2–8.0	6.51	3.40–12.49
55–64	10.2	8.6–11.8	10.43	5.53–19.67
65–74	7.0	5.3–8.7	6.94	3.58–13.44
≥75	6.6	4.9–8.3	6.53	3.34–12.76
Employment status
Employed	4.1	3.2–4.9	-
Unemployed	6.0	5.1–6.9	1.49	1.14–1.96
Pupil/Student	1.1	0.4–1.9	0.28	0.14–0.57
Retiree	7.9	6.7–9.0	2.01	1.53–2.63
Education
No formal education/Primary school	6.6	5.7–7.5	-
Secondary school	5.3	4.6–6.0	0.79	0.64–0.97
Undergraduate/Postgraduate studies	3.9	2.8–5.0	0.58	0.42–0.80
Self-assessment of health status
Very good/Good/Fair	4.6	4.1–5.1	-
Poor/Very poor	9.5	8.0–11.0	2.16	1.75–2.67
Presence of chronic disease
No	1.8	1.3–2.2	-
Yes	8.2	7.4–9.0	4.98	3.74–6.64
Exposure to stress during four weeks prior to the interview
No/Yes, not more than others	4.3	3.8–4.8	-
Yes, more than others/Yes, unbearable	13.4	11.4–15.4	3.48	2.81–4.30
Physical pain during four weeks prior to the interview
No/Very mild	3.4	2.8–3.9	-
Mild/Moderate	7.3	6.2–8.4	2.26	1.79–2.85
Severe/Very severe	9.4	7.8–11.0	2.97	2.30–3.83
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to a long waiting time for health service
No	5.9	5.2–6.6	-
No need for healthcare	2.5	1.7–3.3	0.41	0.30–0.57
Yes	8.6	6.9–10.2	1.49	1.17–1.91
Unmet healthcare needs in the past 12 months due to distance or transportation barriers
No	6.1	5.4–6.7	-
No need for healthcare	2.7	2.0–3.5	0.44	0.32–0.60
Yes	10.6	7.5–13.7	1.83	1.30–2.58
Satisfaction with public health service
Very satisfied/Satisfied	5.3	4.6–6.0	-
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	5.8	4.8–6.9	1.11	0.88–1.41
Dissatisfied/Very dissatisfied	6.3	5.1–7.5	1.21	0.94–1.56
Satisfaction with private health service
Very satisfied/Satisfied	4.7	4.0–5.5	-
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	5.6	4.2–7.0	1.20	0.87–1.64
Dissatisfied/Very dissatisfied	7.1	4.3–9.9	1.55	0.98–2.43