February 27th, 2024, Lesley Simeon
People may opt for self-medication without consulting a doctor first for a variety of reasons. Some may cite costs or the lack of time to visit a clinic, while others may simply not trust doctors enough to consult with them. In this piece, we explore what causes consumers to self-medicate for existing health conditions.
A recent YouGov survey asked consumers who self-medicate across 17 international markets why they choose to do so rather than consulting doctors or other medical professionals.
Consumers who say they self-medicate are most likely to do so because self-medication has proven effective for some of their conditions in the past (38%). More than a quarter of them say they self-medicate because the cost of medical appointments is too high (27%), and they find it difficult to get an appointment with medical professionals (26%).
Time, or the lack of it, is another key factor pushing consumers to self-medicate. For instance, 23% of consumers who self-medicate say they don’t have time to visit a medical professional and two in ten of them (20%) say it takes too long to get a diagnosis via medical professionals.
YouGov’s demographic data shows younger consumers are more likely to self-medicate because of time or cost-related factors. As for older consumers, successful past instances of self-medication or difficulty in getting appointments with medical professionals are more likely to be reasons pushing them to self-medicate. Notably, consumers across age groups more or less agree on reasons like lack of trust in medical professionals or previous instances where professionals haven’t been able to diagnose conditions.
Nearly half of all consumers aged 55 years and above (48%) say they self-medicate because the approach has proven effective for some of their past conditions. They are also most likely to self-medicate (31%) owing to difficulties in getting an appointment with a medical professional.
Consumers between 45 and 54 years account for the largest proportion of those who say they self-medicate because they don’t trust medical professionals enough (17%), closely followed by 25-to-34-year-olds who are also of the same opinion (16%).
A third of 35-to-44-year-olds prefer to self-medicate given their past successes with this approach (33%). Compared to those in other age groups, consumers in this age group are the most likely to say it takes too long to get a diagnosis (21%).
About three in ten 25-to-34-year-olds (31%) self-medicate because the approach has worked for them in the past. Further, nearly two in ten of this age group (19%) say they prefer researching symptoms of their conditions online and deciding for themselves. This demographic is most likely across age groups to say they self-medicate owing to two factors - either medical professionals tend to recommend against medication for some illnesses (13%) or they feel their medical practitioner doesn’t understand their condition or doesn’t approach it seriously (15%).
Finally, the youngest in the lot - 18-to-24-year-olds. Previous success with self-medication (31%), lack of time to visit medical professionals (30%) and the high cost of medical appointments (30%) are the top reasons this group self-medicates. They are also most likely across age groups to cite inaccessibility to medical facilities (15%) and reluctance to disclose health concerns to medical professionals (12%) as reasons to self-medicate.
Moving on to data from individual markets, we see that more than half of all Britons (52%) say they self-medicate because they find it difficult to get appointments with medical professionals - the most likely across markets to say so.
Reportedly, one in 20 patients in England has to wait at least four weeks before seeing a general practitioner, with waiting lists set to peak at 8 million by August 2024, some analysts suggest. The National Health Service (NHS) on its part is turning to measures like mobile units to resolve the waiting-list issue and ensure timely patient care.
Germans (32%) follow at a distant second in citing this reason behind their choice to self-medicate. More than half of all Singaporeans who self-medicate (54%) say they do so because self-medication has proven effective for some of their past conditions, followed by Germans (47%) and Americans (44%).
Britons are most likely (27%) to say they self-medicate because it takes too long to get a diagnosis otherwise, and Singaporeans (30%) are most likely to cite a lack of time to visit medical professionals.
Singaporeans are also the most likely to say the cost of medical appointments is too high (51%) and so they choose to self-medicate.
Americans are most likely across markets to blame their distrust of medical professionals (21%) as a reason to self-medicate, closely followed by Indians (20%). Nearly three in ten Americans (29%) say they self-medicate because the costs of medical appointments are too high. Reportedly, Americans spend more than $10k on average on healthcare each year, with an urgent care medical visit (for a flu shot, blood draw or a sinus infection, for example) costing Americans anywhere between $30 and $174.
More than one in five Danes (22%) say they self-medicate since they feel their medical practitioners don’t understand their condition or take it seriously – making them the most likely across markets to say so. An equal proportion of Danes who self-medicate (22%) say they do so since medical practitioners haven’t been able to diagnose their conditions.
Indians lead (24%) in saying they self-medicate because they prefer researching their symptoms themselves or because they feel medical professionals tend to recommend against medication for some illnesses (19%). Consumers in the UAE are most likely to say they self-medicate since the medical setting they need to visit is either too far or inaccessible for them (14%).
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 773 and 183 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in December 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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