OBJECTIVE: To assess self medication practice among children from a city in the Southern region of Brazil. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study with a random sample. Initially, Family Health Strategy teams and later the residences that would be visited were raffled. A questionnaire about children and family characteristics and self medication practices was administered to caretakers. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test (p<0.05) were used for data presentation. RESULTS: Child caretakers were interviewed in 83 households. Data from 121 children (aged six months to 14 years) were collected. Among caretakers, 75% said they had practiced self medication; mothers accounted for 95% of these cases. As for self medication situations, convenience (88%), fever (58%) and pain (12%) were the most reported. Acetaminophen (45%) and dipyrone (15%) were the most used drugs. Statistical analysis showed an association between the reuse of old prescriptions and child's age less than seven years and between the use of drugs without prescription from a qualified professional and households with more than four people. CONCLUSIONS: Self medication is a common practice in the surveyed population, especially among children up to seven years of age and conducted primarily by mothers, suggesting the need to develop health education aimed at promoting the rational use of medicines.
self medication; child; drug utilization
