Use of medications and supplements among Hispanic university students on the Mexico-US border

Abstract

The use of over-the-coun ter (OTC) medications and prod ucts may in crease the risk for neg a tive healthout comes. This cross-sec tional study ex am ined knowl edge, at ti tudes, and be hav iors re gard ing the use ofmed i ca tion and other prod ucts among stu dents at a uni ver sity on the Mex ico-US bor der. Data were col lectedthrough a selfre ported in stru ment. Anal y ses in cluded de scrip tive and in fer en tial sta tis tics. A to tal of 494stu dents par tic i pated. They re ported ac cept able level of knowl edge and at ti tudes to ward the use ofmed i ca tions, herbal prod ucts and sup ple ments. In ref er ence to be hav iors, re sults var ied but mostpar tic i pants re ported tak ing OTC med i ca tions and other prod ucts. There was a sig nif i cant in ter ac tionbe tween place of birth and lan guage use at home in re la tion to knowl edge [F (2,287) = 4.06, p<0.02];be tween place of birth and knowl edge [F (1,287) = 8,48, p < 0,004] and at ti tudes to ward the use ofmed i ca tions [F (1,287) = 4,18, p < 0.042]; and be tween lan guage use at home and be hav iors [F (2, 287) =3.28, p<0.04]. There is a need for im prov ing ed u ca tion about the use of med i ca tions and other productsamong young adult Hispanics. Healthcare provider must contribute to education efforts.