Prevalência da automedicação na população adulta do Brasil: revisão sistemática Prevalence of self-medication in the adult population of Brazil: a systematic review

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of self-medication in Brazil’s adult population. METHODS: Systematic review of cross-sectional population-based studies. The following databases were used: Medline, Embase, Scopus, ISI, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, CRD, Lilacs, SciELO, the Banco de teses brasileiras (Brazilian theses database) (Capes) and files from the Portal Dominio Publico (Brazilian Public Domain). In addition, the reference lists from relevant studies were examined to identify potentially eligible articles. There were no applied restrictions in terms of the publication date, language or publication status. Data related to publication, population, methods and prevalence of self-medication were extracted by three independent researchers. Methodological quality was assessed following eight criteria related to sampling, measurement and presentation of results. The prevalences were measured from participants who used at least one medication during the recall period of the studies.