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Vol. 54 No. 3 (2018)
Original Articles
2018-10-01
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Medicine use and recurrent complaints among 15-years-old adolescents in Tuscany

Authors

Claudia Maria Trombetta , Ilaria Manini , Andrea Pammolli , Stefania Rossi , Teresa Pozzi , Emanuele Montomoli , Giacomo Lazzeri

Abstract

Background.  The  use  of  medicines  to  treat  common  complaints,  such  as  headache, stomachache, difficulty in getting to sleep and nervousness, is widespread among ado-lescents,  and  is  increasing.  The  aim  of  this  survey  was  to  estimate  the  prevalence  of recurrent specific complaints among 15-year-old adolescents in Tuscany over three years(2006, 2010 and 2014) and that of medicine use to treat these complaints among boysand girls.Methods.The present study  is based on data from the Tuscan HBSC studies at threetime points (2006, 2010 and 2014), which involved 2830 adolescents, aged 15 years old(1395 boys and 1435 girls).Results.Overall, the data confirm that adolescents who suffer from recurrent complaintsare more likely to use medicines. The prevalence rates of all complaints were higher ingirls than in boys in the three years considered. Over the whole period, headache, stom-achache and difficulty in getting to sleep increased in girls, while boys displayed signifi-cant decrease in nervousness and stomachache.Conclusion.Our findings underline the fact that the use of medicines in adolescence isa public health concern and constitutes an emerging issue that needs greater attentionand investigation on the part of scientific research

Background. The use of medicines to treat common complaints, such as headache, stomachache, difficulty in getting to sleep and nervousness, is widespread among adolescents, and is increasing. The aim of this survey was to estimate the prevalence of recurrent specific complaints among 15-year-old adolescents in Tuscany over three years (2006, 2010 and 2014) and that of medicine use to treat these complaints Conclusion. Our findings underline the fact that the use of medicines in adolescence is a public health concern and constitutes an emerging issue that needs greater attention and investigation on the part of scientific research.

Keywords: medicine use, adolescents, recurrent complaints

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Authors

Claudia Maria Trombetta - University of Siena https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7229-9919

Ilaria Manini

Andrea Pammolli

Stefania Rossi

Teresa Pozzi

Emanuele Montomoli

Giacomo Lazzeri

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite
Trombetta, C. M., Manini, I., Pammolli, A., Rossi, S., Pozzi, T., Montomoli, E., & Lazzeri, G. (2018). Medicine use and recurrent complaints among 15-years-old adolescents in Tuscany. Annali dell’Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 54(3), 208–213. Retrieved from https://annali.iss.it/index.php/anna/article/view/656
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