ReviewAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Self-Medication with Antibiotics during COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries: A Review.
Review in Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of antibiotics prescription amongst patients with and without COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pathogens and global health · 2023Pooled it
- Public knowledge and misconceptions regarding antibiotic use and resistance in Jordan: A cross-sectional study.Medicine · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Associated Factors for Purchasing Antibiotics Without a Prescription Among Patients in Rural South Africa: Implications for Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Examine the Impact of Self-Medicated Antibiotics on Gut Bacterial Diversity From COVID-19 Patients in Gopalganj, Bangladesh.MicrobiologyOpen · 2025Article
- Pharmacists' practices, perceptions, and challenges in dispensing antibiotics without prescription: a qualitative study in Palestine.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- Prevalence and risk factors of self-medication with antibiotics in the general population of Tehran-a population-based study.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Article
- Drug stockpiling behavior and its impact on anxiety among the general public in the early stage after the lifting of China's Zero-COVID policy: results from a web-based survey.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Assessment of factors associated with self-medication practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in southwestern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional survey.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Antimicrobial Resistance: Stewardship and One Health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.Cureus · 2024Review
- Choosing and accessing COVID-19 treatment options: a qualitative study with patients, caregivers, and health care providers in Lebanon.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
- Self-medication with antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study among adults in Tema, Ghana.PloS one · 2024Article
- WHO AWaRe classification for antibiotic stewardship: tackling antimicrobial resistance - a descriptive study from an English NHS Foundation Trust prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Use of antimicrobials during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study among stakeholders in Nepal.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Antimicrobial resistance landscape and COVID-19 impact in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon: A survey-based study and expert opinion.PloS one · 2023Article
- A Threshold Logistic Modelling Approach for Identifying Thresholds between Antibiotic Use and Methicillin-ResistantAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Self-treatment with medicines including treatment with antibiotics is a growing global concern, as it can cause public health problems, such as antibiotic resistance and drug toxicity. Therefore, the significance of the self-medication impact of COVID-19 in any region can have an influence on the prevalence of such problems. The review aimed to investigate the self-treatment with antibiotics among the general population in Eastern Mediterranean region countries during COVID-19 pandemic. A comprehensive review of literature in four databases was conducted for the pandemic period from January 2020 to the end of March 2022. Nine studies related to self-treatment with antibiotics were found. The studies were homogeneous in terms of assessing the antibiotic self-treatment usage during the COVID-19 pandemic among the general population and among community pharmacies. The prevalence of self-treatment with antibiotics ranged from 20.8% to 45.8% between the studies. The main reasons for that were cost-saving, fear of COVID-19 infection, quarantine, and ease of accessibility without time limits. Antibiotic self-treatment has been high during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it was less reported during the study period than before the time of the pandemic. There is a need for more restrictions on dispensing antibiotics from community pharmacies. In addition, there is a need to raise awareness among the population regarding self-treatment with antibiotics.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.