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This study assessed the prevalence of the inappropriate use of over-the-counter (OTC) cold medicine among adolescents and examined the relationships between knowledge, literacy, and the inappropriate use of OTC cold medicine. In 2015, a national representative sample of 6812 students from primary, middle, and high schools completed a survey in Taiwan. Self-administered questionnaires were collected. The results indicated that 22% of adolescents had taken OTC cold medicine in the past year, and 28.5% of them had taken inappropriate dosages. In addition, 15% of adolescents bought OTC cold medicine in the past year, 27% of them did not consult pharmacists. More than half of the adolescents surveyed had misperceptions about cold medicine. Multivariate analysis results indicated that adolescents who had lower levels of cold medicine knowledge, lower medication label literacy, and lower self-efficacy were more likely to engage in the inappropriate use of OTC cold medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with high healthcare utilization are at increased risk of polypharmacy and drug interactions. This study investigated the changes in the number of medications, drug interactions and interaction severity in high frequency outpatients with polypharmacy at hospitals and clinics in Taiwan after home pharmaceutical care, to understand the effectiveness of interventions by pharmacists. This was a retrospective observational study. Cases with excessive polypharmacy (10+ drugs) were selected from the Pharmaceutical Care Practice System database of the Taiwan Pharmacist Association in 2017. After the home care intervention, the number of drug types used decreased 1.89-fold ( p < 0.001), and the number of medications fell 61.6%. The incidence of drug interaction was 93.82%. In an average case, the incidence of drug interaction after the pharmacist intervention decreased 0.6-fold ( p < 0.001). The drug most commonly causing interactions was aspirin, followed by diclofenac; also common were three used in diabetes, two psycholeptics and two beta blockers. Among 22 cases of severe drug interaction, seven resulted in increased risk of extrapyramidal symptoms and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. By analyzing the relationship between the side effects of individual drugs and the pharmacokinetic T max , a sequential thermal zone model of adverse drug reactions can be established, the value of which could prompt physicians and pharmacists to intervene in order to prevent adverse events. It is concluded that home pharmaceutical care by pharmacists can significantly reduce the number of medications and interactions in patients with excessive polypharmacy and high healthcare utilization., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: This study assessed the prevalence of children's and adolescents' pain experiences and use of medicine and examined the relationships between pain experiences, medication knowledge, literacy, and use of medicine., Method: A probability-proportionate-to-size sampling method was used to systematically draw a random sample of schools. In 2014, a national representative sample of 2309 students from 35 primary schools (5th-6th grade), 2700 students from 30 middle schools, and 2013 students from 20 high schools completed the online survey., Results: Overall, 85.6% of children and adolescents reported experiencing pain during the past year that included headache (63.0%), throat ache (59.3%), muscle ache (58.3%), stomach pain (42.9%), menstrual pain (girls: 42.1%), and dental pain (38.5%). Children and adolescents had taken cold/cough medicine (48.1%), acetaminophen (15.0%), antacids (14.8%), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (10.5%) in the past year. Multivariate analysis results indicated that after controlling for pain experiences children and adolescents who had lower levels of medication knowledge and literacy were more likely to use pain medication and antacids more frequently. In addition, children and adolescents who had lower medication knowledge, lower literacy, asked doctors to prescribe antacids, and co-administered with antacids were more likely to report long-term use of antacids., Conclusions: Lower levels of medication knowledge and literacy among children and adolescents were associated with more frequent use of pain medication and antacids., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)