Medicine use among Warsaw ninth-grade students

Aim: This study examined the prevalence of medicine use for headache, stomachache, difficulties in getting to sleep, nervousness, depression and lack of energy among 15- to 16-year-old students; the relationship between medicine use and students' health status; and the relationship between medicine and nicotine, illegal drug, and alcohol use. Methods: Data were collected from a random sample of ninth-grade students attending Warsaw middle schools (N = 722, 47% females). The self-administered anonymous questionnaire was completed during school lessons. Findings: For a period of 1 month, 52% of the students used medicines for headache and 41% for stomachache at least 1-2 times. The most prevalent pain relievers were over-the-counter medicines based on paracetamol, ibuprofen and drotaverine. A smaller proportion of students (10-13%) used herbal agents to address mental health problems, including difficulties in getting to sleep, nervousness and bad mood. Girls were more likely to use pain relievers and medicines for nervousness. The results of logistic regression showed that after controlling for gender, all variables related to health status increased risk of medicine use for mental health problems. Cigarette smoking was associated with medicine use for headache. No association was found, however, between medicine use and use of alcohol and illicit drugs. This may suggest that medicine use and consumption of other psychoactive substances constitute two distinct phenomena.