Aspects of self-medication in Brazil

INTRODUÇÃO: Os dados apresentados fazem parte de um estudo multicêntrico sobre automedicação na América Latina realizado pela Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS). Objetivou-se traçar um perfil da automedicação através da análise da procura de medicamentos em farmácias sem prescrição médica ou aconselhamento do farmacêutico/balconista. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: As especialidades farmacêuticas foram classificadas pelo código "Anatomical Therapeutical Classification" e analisadas sob quatro aspectos qualitativos: valor intrínseco, essencialidade (lista da OMS e Relação Nacional de Medicamentos Essenciais (RENAME), combinação em dose fixa e necessidade de prescrição médica. RESULTADOS: Foram solicitadas 5.332 especialidades farmacêuticas (785 diferentes princípios ativos), sendo 49,5% combinações em dose fixas, 53,0% de valor intrínseco não elevado, 44,1% sujeitos a prescrição médica, 71,0% não essenciais e 40,0% baseados em prescrições médicas anteriores. Os medicamentos mais solicitados foram analgésicos (17,3%), descongestionantes nasais (7,0%), antiinflamatório/antireumático e antiinfecciosos de uso sistêmico, ambos com 5,6%. CONCLUSÕES: Os dados sugerem que a automedicação no Brasil reflete as carências e hábitos da população, é consideravelmente influenciada pela prescrição médica e tem a sua qualidade prejudicada pela baixa seletividade do mercado farmacêutico.INTRODUCTION: The data presented are part of a World Health Organization (WHO) multicenter study of self-medication in Latin America. Brazilian sites included: Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, the city of S. Paulo and outlying locations. The objective was to characterize self-medication practices by analyzing drugs sought by consumers in pharmacies without a physician's prescription. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Drugs were classified according to the Anatomic Therapeutic Classification codes, and analyzed with respect to 1) intrinsic value; 2) recognition as an essential drug (by either WHO or Brazil); 3) number of active ingredients; and 4) requirement for prescription. RESULTS: Five thousand, three hundred and thirty-two (5,332) different drugs, with 785 distinct active ingredients were sought. Of these, 49.5% were fixed dose combinations, 53.0% were of little intrinsic value, 44,1% required a physician's prescription, 71.0% were not essential drugs, and 40.0% of requests were based on prior prescriptions from the physician. The drugs most requested were analgesics (17.3%), nasal descongestants (7.0%), antirheumatic anti-inflamatory drugs (5.6%), and systemic anti-infective drugs (5.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Self-medication in Brazil reflects the needs and habits of the population. It is strongly influenced by physician's-prescribing habits and by the inadequate selectivity of the Brazilian pharmaceutical market

Metabolic syndrome in elderly from a northeastern brazilian city

Introduction: Population aging is a global reality. In Brazil, it is so expressive and in 2050 is estimated that the number of men and women over 80 years old can overcome the 20-24 years old population and also children under 14 years old. Metabolic syndrome is defined as a set of cardiovascular risk factors, detection and intervention in this age group may decrease cardiovascular mortality. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in elderly patients in a northeastern Brazilian city. Method: This is a quantitative, observational, cross-sectional and population-based study. The population consisted of non-institutionalized individuals aged> 60 years old, attended in the Family Health Strategy (FHS) and residents in Cajazeiras, PB, Brazil. For the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome we considered the criteria recommended by the International Federation of Diabetes. Results: We studied 351 elderly patients with 72.4+8.7 years old and 66.1% were female. The prevalence of MS was 69.8% and the most frequent criterion was increased waist circumference (82.6%), followed by high triglycerides (81.5%) and low HDL-cholesterol (80.6%). We observed a statistically significant positive association between MS and women [OR: 1.38 (95% CI: 1.18 to 1.63)] and housing in urban areas [OR: 1.23 (1.02 to 1.48)]. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of MS among the elderly mainly in women and those living in urban areas

Análise da atividade e gasto fisiológico dos catadores de resíduos sólidos: a percepção da terapia ocupacional

The world’s transformation in the market has been causing changes in the working class. As those changes have come, the market calls for a high capacity from the workers. Due to that, the unemployment rate has increased and induced a new type of class worker: the Recyclable Material Collectors. In this job, the role of the collector is to return the materials to their commodity chain, and to accomplish this, two methods of collecting are used: one with a truck and the other with a manual collector car. This is one type of occupation which has an extenuating work time, where the worker is exposed to a high ergonomic risk. This study, which was labored from a quantitative and qualitative approach to exploratory method and field research, is intended to compare which collecting technique can be less weariness to the worker. To the purpose of comparison of the physiological work weight, the participants used the Polar FT7 frequency counter, which generated, in graphic form, the performance of the collector in both methods. According to the values presented, was concluded that three of the four participants had a higher physiological weariness by using the manual car collecting approach, concluding that this method is the one that brings most effort to the worker. Considering the results obtained in this research, it was possible to observe that the use of the manual car causes a higher damage to the health of the recyclable material collector.A transformação no mundo do trabalho tem causado mudanças no perfil da classe trabalhadora. Cada vez mais, o mercado de trabalho requer exigências e, como decorrência disso, a taxa de desemprego aumentou e fez surgir uma nova profissão, a de Catadores de Materiais Recicláveis. A função do catador é a de devolver os materiais à sua cadeia produtiva e, para isso, existem dois métodos de coleta: com o caminhão e com o carro manual de coleta. Essa é uma profissão que possui jornadas de trabalho extenuantes, nas quais o trabalhador está exposto a riscos ergonômicos. Esse estudo foi elaborado a partir de uma abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa de método explorátorio e pesquisa de campo; pretende comparar qual método de coleta causa menos desgaste ao trabalhador. Para fins de comparação da carga fisiológica do trabalho, os participantes utilizaram o frequencímetro Polar FT7 que gerou, em forma de gráfico, o desempenho do catador em ambos os métodos de coleta. De acordo com os valores expostos, avaliou-se que, dos 4 participantes, 3 apresentaram um maior desgaste fisiológico no método de coleta com o carro manual, sendo esta a forma pela qual o trabalhador realiza mais esforços. Considerando os resultados obtidos nessa pesquisa, foi possível observar que o uso do carro manual de coleta causa um maior prejuízo à saúde do catador de materiais recicláveis