Análise da prática da automedicação e a potencial toxicidade de medicamentos

Abstract

Self-medication presents itself, at first look, as a matter of public health only. We also glimpse ecotoxicological aspects permeating this theme. From a total of 80 respondents, we investigated, through a questionnaire, their practices related to medication consumption, their conceptions and impressions about self-medication. At side of it, we carried out ecotoxicological tests with the medicament Ibuprofen600mg (generic) and the medicament Dipirona250mg (reference), listed by respondents as examples of products consumed in the form of self-medication. The tests were designed in compliance with the ABNT NBR 12713/2016 standard, using Daphnea magna as the test-organism, and aimed to compare medicaments with extrapolated validity and their homonymous ones with current validity. We noticed that the expired medicament samples were less toxic than the non-expired samples, and the difference was more explicit in the Dipirona250mg assay. We assume that the decrease in the toxicity of the analyzed medicament may be the result of the decrease in the product's efficacy after its expiration and that the fact of self-medicating with medicaments whose manufacture is not recent brings, in addition to the possibility of adverse effects, a reduction of the therapeutic effect. For the analysis of the questionnaires, we used aspects of quantitative and qualitative research, choosing content analysis (Bardin, 1977) for the no objective questions. In terms of practices related to medications, we see that practically all respondents admit to keeping medications stored and self-medicating whenever they consider knowing the association of symptoms with the effect of a particular medications under the pretext of temporarily and financially exonerating themselves with medical appointments for apparently inexpressive ailments; in this way, they justify and relativize this practice even claiming to know the possible harmful action of a pharmacological treatment without the proper supervision of a qualified professional. We conclude, according to our results, that the way medicines are offered in pharmacies, combined with the practicality of this attitude in view of the need to optimize time added to the recklessness in relation to possible harms in the consumption of medicines without the guidance of a qualified professional are the factors that determine the normalization of self-medication in our sample. We suggest a change of attitude on the part of pharmaceutical professionals who have as their responsibility the maintenance and prevention of community health, assuming a leading role, positioning themselves as a professional capable of guiding the rational consumption of medicines. We also propose the reorganization of the pharmacies shelves so that the non-prescription drugs do not mix with perfumery items and therapeutic solutions and must be indicated by the pharmacist after the patient’s symptoms report instead of being requested by the patient who was self-diagnosed in advance and determined the dosage necessary to suppress his symptoms.