Educating consumers about dosing directions could improve dosing compliance
THURSDAY, Feb. 1, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The number of users who exceed the daily limit of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is “nontrivial,” according to a study published online Jan. 26 in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.
David W. Kaufman, Sc.D., from Boston University, and colleagues evaluated one week of online diary entries for 1,326 ibuprofen users to determine deviations from dosing directions.
The researchers found that 90 percent of diary participants took over-the-counter ibuprofen during the week, while 37 percent also took non-ibuprofen NSAIDs. Most did not recognize all products fell into the NSAID category. Eleven percent of users for ibuprofen exceeded the daily limit, as did 4 percent of users for other NSAIDs. Exceeding the daily limit was associated with male sex, ongoing pain, poor physical function, daily smoking, having the attitudes of “choosing my own dose,” not starting with the lowest dose, and poor knowledge of the recommended one-time and 24-hour doses.
“The prevalence of exceeding the daily limit among NSAID users is nontrivial, and it is associated with potentially modifiable factors,” the authors write. “Educating consumers about NSAIDs and their dosing directions could reduce excess dosing.”
The study was sponsored by McNeil Consumer Healthcare (now Johnson & Johnson Consumer).
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