Over-the-Counter Drugs and Complementary Medications Use among Children in Southern Italy

Table 3

Result of the multinomial logistic regression model for estimates of nonprescription drugs (NPDs) use in the presence of at least one of 4 symptoms (cold, diarrhea, dermatological problems, and headache).

Outcome: NPDs^a utilization without supervision of the CBP^b; Log likelihood = −264.20, , 34 df, , and number of participants = 303
Variable	No medications users		Medications users at the suggestion of the CBP^b
	RRR (95% CI)	value	RRR (95% CI)	value
Sociodemographic profile
Respondent (other^c as reference)	1.20 (0.37–3.86)	0.76	0.74 (0.17–3.19)	0.68
Age of respondent, continuous	0.96 (0.91–1.02)	0.18	1.00 (0.94–1.07)	0.89
Marital status (other^d as reference)	6.38 (0.71–57.4)	0.10	3.61 (0.39–33.31)	0.26
Education level (<8 years of schooling as reference)	0.77 (0.36–1.62)	0.49	0.92 (0.35–2.41)	0.86
Working activity (none as reference)	0.88 (0.48–1.63)	0.69	1.18 (0.56–2.49)	0.67
Number of children in the family, continuous	1.20 (0.78–1.84)	0.33	1.25 (0.75–2.11)	0.39
Child gender (male as reference)	1.09 (0.61–1.95)	0.76	0.64 (0.31–1.31)	0.22
Age of the child, continuous	0.98 (0.89–1.08)	0.66	0.95 (0.84–1.07)	0.38
Children’s health status
Parental general health perception (poor/fair as reference)
Good/very good/excellent	2.67 (0.81–8.82)	0.11	1.89 (0.43–8.26)	0.40
Limitations in schoolwork or activities with friends because of physical health problems (absence of reference)	0.56 (0.27–1.15)	0.11	0.26 (0.11–0.66)	0.004
Limitations in schoolwork or activities with friends because of psychological health problems (absence as reference)	1.76 (0.65–4.78)	0.27	4.57 (1.66–12.58)	0.003
Child’s chronic illness diagnosed by a physician (absence as reference)	0.78 (0.21–2.87)	0.71	0.52 (0.09–3.12)	0.48
Prescribed medicine regularly used by the child (none as reference)	1.37 (0.32–5.82)	0.67	3.06 (0.48–19.46)	0.24
Source of information about medications
Favorite source of information about medications characteristics (only pediatrician as reference)
Pediatrician and other source	0.46 (0.25–0.84)	0.01	1.05 (0.51–2.19)	0.89
Only other source^e	0.25 (0.06–0.96)	0.04	0.63 (0.15–2.61)	0.52
Utilization of product label or other information before administering the drug (never/hardly ever/sometimes/often as reference)
Always	2.23 (1.08–4.63)	0.03	1.24 (0.54–2.84)	0.61
Utilization of dosing recommendations provided on the product label (no as reference)	0.63 (0.29–1.35)	0.24	1.20 (0.51–2.81)	0.68

Nonprescription drugs.
^bCommunity based pediatrician.
^cFather or grandparents.
^dSingle, separated/divorced, or widow.
^eCost, packaging, advertising by media, pharmacist endorsement, physician endorsement, nurse endorsement, friend/family endorsement, child care worker, or personal choice.