investigating factors affecting self-medication and its pattern among students of tabriz university of medical sciences, iran, in 2012

background : the aim of this study was to identify factors affecting self-medication and its pattern among the students of tabriz university of medical sciences, tabriz, iran. methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 385 students of tabriz university of medical sciences in 2012. the data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. the validity of the questionnaire was reviewed and confirmed by 10 experts and its reliability was confirmed based on cronbach's alpha index (α = 0.83). to investigate the relationship between qualitative variables, chi-square and fisher’s exact tests were used. the significance level was set at 0.05 and data were analyzed using spss software. findings: in the present study, 154 (48%) students reported having self-medicated. moreover, the rate of self-medication was higher among women than men (p = 0.024). a significant relationship was observed between field of study and self-medication (p = 0.035). the main reasons for self-medication were fever and headache (70.4%), previous experience of the disease (41.6%), and purchasing drugs from pharmacies during consumption (55.6%). furthermore, the majority of self-medicated drugs were antibiotics (60%) and cold medicines (42%). conclusion: the study findings indicate a high prevalence of self-medication among students of tabriz university of medical sciences. therefore, it is necessary to reduce self-medication through provision of education and correct information.