Prevalence and Associated Factors of Self-Medication Among Late Adolescents in Urban Dhaka, Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and aims: Self-medication is a growing concern among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries, yet evidence for late adolescents in urban Bangladesh is scarce. This study estimated its prevalence and identified associated factors among late adolescent college students in Dhaka.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2025 and March 2026 among 450 students aged 16-19 years in grades 11 and 12 at one public and one private college in Dhaka, recruited by convenience sampling. A structured, self-administered questionnaire covered sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics, self-medication during the preceding 3 months, drug categories, reasons, and information and procurement sources. Self-medication was defined as use of any medicine without a current prescription from, or consultation with, a licensed physician. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression were performed in Stata 15.0 with all 10 prespecified covariates entered simultaneously; tests were two-sided at alpha = 0.05.