It is well known that over-the-counter
analgesics can be effective for adolescents in providing relief from various
symptoms. The most widely consumed over-the-counter drugs are analgesics
(OTCAs). Evidence from Europe, including Norway, and United States, shows that
usage of over-the counter (OTC) analgesics among adolescents is considerable.
Furthermore, statistics indicate that the level of usage is on an increasing
trend. Increased usage of analgesics could be a reason for concern as usage of
analgesic medications purchased over the counter is not necessarily harmless. And
it has been noted that females tend to have a higher usage compared to males.
In this paper, the authors explored this gender difference.
The dataset consisted
of 284,674 from Norwegian adolescents attending junior high school and high
school between 2014 and 2017. The econometric approach consisted of
applying ordered logistic regressions with usage of OTC analgesics as the
dependent variable and a dichotomous gender variable as the independent
variable. Control variables included variables such as frequency of physical
and mental health problems and other sociodemographic variables.
The results showed
that 1) given everything else being equal, the female adolescents were
predicted to have a significantly higher usage of OTC analgesics compared to
the male adolescents; 2) increased frequency and
severity of neck and shoulder pain, joint and muscle pain, nausea, palpitations,
headache and stomachache predicted higher usage of OTC analgesics; 3) increased
frequency of tiredness, sleep problems, unhappiness, sadness or depression,
tenseness, being worried and being angry or aggressive was found to predict
increased usage of OTC analgesics. However, a large proportion
of the gender difference evaporates when controlling for various other
determinants.
In conclusion, a
considerable part of the observed gender difference in OTC analgesic usage can
be traced back to differences in frequency and severity of physical and mental
health problems. Part of the gender difference in usage, however, remains
unexplained. Furthermore, goodness of fit statistics from the multivariate model
suggests that there are additional determinants to be found.
Article by Sindre
Lorentzen, et al, from Norway and Sweden.
Full access: http://mrw.so/4FAjiy
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