Routine Medical Check-Up and Self-Treatment Practices among Community-Dwelling Living in a Mountainous Area of Northern Vietnam

Table 3

Self-treatment practice.

Characteristics		%
Self-treatment practice in the last three months ()
No	114	66.3
Yes	58	33.7
Symptoms when practicing self-treatment ()
Fever	19	32.8
Headache	37	63.8
Stomachache	9	15.5
Cough	12	20.7
Osteoarthritis pain	12	20.7
Allergy	2	3.4
Other	10	17.2
Type of medicine bought ()
Pain relief	21	36.2
Antibiotics	21	36.2
Others	16	27.6
Criteria when buying medicine for self-treatment ()
Remember drug’s name	3	5.2
Using prescriptions in previous medical examination	3	5.2
Describing symptoms to pharmacists	49	84.5
Using drugs available at home	2	3.4
Others	1	1.7
Reasons for self-treatment ()
Having previous experience with similar health problems	17	29.3
Mild symptoms	12	20.7
Not having time for visiting health facility	15	25.9
Not having enough money for visiting health facility	5	8.6
Medical facility is far away	8	13.8
Confidentiality	1	1.7