81% of young people buy OTC medicines, “over the counter”, in other words without a prescription, according to an Ifop study for Biogaran published last May.
Among these French people aged 15 to 24, 11% obtain them “very often”, an average slightly higher than that of the rest of the population (9%).
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According to this opinion survey, young people who decide to take medication without a prescription do so mainly because they consider that their symptoms are mild and do not require a consultation with the doctor (67%), because “we would have had to wait too long to have an appointment with the doctor” (64%) or lack of financial means to advance medical costs (44%).
They then use it to treat various pains, coughs, throat or stomach aches. Men use these OTC medications a lot for their allergies, while women use them to manage stress and anxiety, as well as for contraception. 15-17 year olds, for their part, particularly use it for skin problems, loss of tone or fatigue. The price is a factor in refusing to purchase for 62% of those surveyed, a large majority of whom also say they are ready to “favor products equivalent to major brands but less expensive”.
For the director of the politics and news department at Ifop, François Kraus, these results show that “self-medication products respond particularly well to the needs of a busy and pragmatic generation, which does not necessarily have the means or the time to follow a course of care reimbursed by Social Security”.
M.G
Health
