{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T01:39:29Z","timestamp":1787017169985,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761696000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":28,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]},"abstract":"\n Objectives<\/jats:title>\n Antibiotic self-medication and home storage are two common behaviours that can result in inappropriate drug use. This study elucidated their prevalence and associated factors among university students in Vietnam.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Design<\/jats:title>\n Cross-sectional study.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Setting<\/jats:title>\n Vietnam.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Participants<\/jats:title>\n 2230 university students.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Primary and secondary outcome measures<\/jats:title>\n Antibiotic storage was evaluated at the time of the survey, while self-medication was assessed for 1 year preceding this time. Associated factors were determined via multivariable logistic regression models.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n Among 2230 participants, 418 (18.7%) reported self-medicating with antibiotics. The three main reasons for this behaviour included saving time (48.6%), mild diseases (45.0%) and the ease of purchasing antibiotics from community pharmacies (43.8%). Community pharmacies (88.3%) and home storage (36.4%) were the primary sources of antibiotics for self-treatment. Students mainly selected antibiotics based on community pharmacists\u2019 consultation (59.8%) and their knowledge\/experience (37.8%). They commonly read the patient information leaflet (64.6%) and asked for the community pharmacist\u2019s advice to obtain information about antibiotic usage (52.9%). Besides, 296 students (13.3%) stored antibiotics at home. Over two-thirds had antibiotic leftovers from previous treatment and stored them for future use (69.3%), while 46.3% purchased antibiotics from community pharmacies without a prescription. Amoxicillin\/clavulanic acid was the most commonly used antibiotic for self-medication (59.8%) and home storage (54.4%). Antibiotic self-medication was significantly associated with older age (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=1.25; 95%\u2009CI 1.15 to 1.35), non-healthcare students (aOR=0.47; 95%\u2009CI 0.34 to 0.63), higher knowledge score (aOR=1.05; 95%\u2009CI 1.02 to 1.07) and storing antibiotics at home (aOR=7.12; 95%\u2009CI 5.34 to 9.51). Factors associated with home storage of antibiotics included non-healthcare students (aOR=2.77; 95%\u2009CI 2.01 to 3.83), region (north: aOR=6.50; 95%\u2009CI 3.49 to 13.54; south: aOR=5.92; 95%\u2009CI 3.06 to 12.65), having a family member working in the medical field (aOR=1.70; 95%\u2009CI 1.29 to 2.25), higher knowledge score (aOR=1.05; 95%\u2009CI 1.02 to 1.08) and antibiotic self-medication (aOR=7.58; 95%\u2009CI 5.69 to 10.14) (p values<0.001).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n The prevalence of antibiotic self-medication and home storage among students was relatively low but still raises public health concerns. Some interventions, such as integrating targeted health education programmes into university curricula, orientation sessions, extracurricular activities and campus campaigns, may help effectively promote rational antibiotic use.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-107987","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T17:28:07Z","timestamp":1761758887000},"page":"e107987","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Antibiotic self-medication and home storage among university students in Vietnam: a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Dung Anh","family":"Doan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Pharmacy, Phenikaa University, Hanoi, Vietnam"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Viet Xuan","family":"Nguyen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Pharmaceutical Management and Economics, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Vietnam"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giang Ba","family":"Le","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Public Health, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thuy Thi Xuan","family":"Nguyen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy, Da Nang, Vietnam"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6387-2496","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dai Xuan","family":"Dinh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Pharmaceutical Management and Economics, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Vietnam"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.1","unstructured":"National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) . Antibiotic resistance. 2023. Available: https:\/\/www.nfid.org\/antibiotic-resistance [Accessed 11 Sep 2025]."},{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.2","unstructured":"World Health Organization . Antimicrobial resistance. 2023. Available: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/antimicrobial-resistance [Accessed 11 Sep 2025]."},{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(24)01867-1\/ATTACHMENT\/4F9FA746-A486-4BC0-BF71-075D4D1D6D56\/MMC3.PDF"},{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.4","unstructured":"World Health Organization . Antimicrobial resistance: antimicrobial resistance in Vietnam. Available: https:\/\/www.who.int\/vietnam\/vi\/health-topics\/antimicrobial-resistance [Accessed 11 Sep 2025]."},{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-025-23202-4","article-title":"Prevalence and associated factors of antibiotic self-medication and home storage among antibiotic users: a cross-sectional study in Vietnam","volume":"25","author":"Doan","year":"2025","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2468-2667(22)00225-0"},{"key":"2025120415091966000_15.10.e107987.7","unstructured":"World Health Organization . Guideline for the regular assessment of medicinal products for use in self-medication. 2000. 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