Asthma Inhalers Sale without Medical Prescription in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Cross Sectional Study

This study aims to quantify the sale of inhalers without a prescription, describe the degree of difficulty for obtaining these inhalers without a prescription and assess if pharmacists educate patients about the correct use of the inhaler. A cross-sectional study of a quasi-random sample of 252 pharmacies stratified by the five regions of Riyadh. Each pharmacy was visited once by two investigators who used simulated patient methodology with governance of good research principles who simulated having a relative with difficulty of breathing due to airborne dust. Asthma inhalers were dispensed without prescription from 181 pharmacies (72%). Of these, 12 % prescribed the inhaler after trying thelevel 1 of demand and 68 % after the third level. Only 31 pharmacists(17%) explained how to use the inhalers. Asthma inhaler could be obtained in Riyadh without a medical prescription or an evidence-based indication with disobedience of pharmacists to educate on the appropriate use of inhalers