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Nonprescription medicine commonly refer as over-the-counter (OTC) medicines are those that can be purchased without a prescription to treat a variety of mild symptoms. This research seeks to evaluate compliance with the criteria established to classify OTC medicines in the Central American region and Panama. The study is observational, descriptive, exploratory, retrospective and cross-sectional to identify regulation, and to asses individuals in terms of their knowledge and safety of OTC medicines.
Discoveries. The countries of Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama are the ones that comply the most with the safety and efficacy criteria established by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for OTC medicines; Guatemala is the least compliant. OTC medications approved in Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua are classified for Dermatological use, while in El Salvador and Panama, for digestive system, metabolism and respiratory system predominate. In Panama, a convenience sample revealed that 82.4% purchase medicines that are not OTC medicines authorized by the Ministry of Health for commercial purposes. 51.3% to buy the medicines in community pharmacies. A total 71.3% responded that they had not received advice for the correct use of these drugs and 2.3% reported adverse events. It is concluded OTC medicines approved by the regions regulatory authorities comply with the criteria established by PAHO, although they differ by the number and type of criteria by country. In several of the countries of the region, these drugs are classified in the category for the digestive system, metabolism, dermatological system, and respiratory system.
Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.
