Knowledge, attitude and practices of antibiotic usage among students from Mumbai University

Dnyanesh Limaye; Sanika Naware; Priyanka Bare; Shreya Dalvi; Ketaki Dhurve; Arlan Sydymanov; Vaidehi Limaye; Ravi Shankar Pitani; Zeinab Kanso; Gerhard Fortwengel

doi:10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20182270

Authors

Dnyanesh Limaye Department of Clinical Research and Epidemiology, Hochschule Hannover, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hannover, Germany http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7264-9210
Sanika Naware Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Priyanka Bare Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Shreya Dalvi Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Ketaki Dhurve Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Arlan Sydymanov Department of Clinical Research and Epidemiology, Hochschule Hannover, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hannover, Germany
Vaidehi Limaye Department of Clinical Research and Epidemiology, Hochschule Hannover, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hannover, Germany
Ravi Shankar Pitani Department of Community Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Zeinab Kanso Department of Pharmacology University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, USA
Gerhard Fortwengel Department of Clinical Research and Epidemiology, Hochschule Hannover, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hannover, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20182270

Keywords:

Antibiotic, Antibiotic resistance, Rational drug use, University students

Abstract

Background: Discovery of antibiotics have helped to manage the devastating diseases. Presently, the antibiotic era is threatened by the emergence of high level of antibiotic resistance of important pathogens. Misuse of antibiotics poses a serious risk to infectious disease control. It is necessary to improve public awareness to bring a change in the behavior of consumers. Therefore, present study was undertaken to assess the existing knowledge, attitude and practices related to antibiotic usage among university students.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among students from Mumbai University, India during May-June 2017. 300 students were approached to participate in the study of which 250 agreed to participate (males: 117; females: 133). Pretested questionnaire was distributed and collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23.

Results: Substantial number (33% and 40%) participants were unaware about the differences in antibiotic-anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotic-antipyretics respectively. 28% of the participants thought it is right to stop antibiotics only based on symptoms improvement. Sixty eight percent and seventy nine percent participants believed that antibiotics should always be prescribed to treat flu like symptoms and pneumonia respectively.

Conclusions: Participants demonstrated poor knowledge about antibiotics. Similarly, their attitude and practice toward antibiotic use was associated with misconceptions. An educational intervention can be introduced to make them aware about rational antibiotic practices.

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