Knowledge and practice of parents towards using cough and cold medication for their children which had a common cold attending at general pediatrics clinics in maternity and children hospital in makkah al-mukarramah, ksa, 2019-2020 cross-sectional

Back Ground: The common cold can occur at any time of year, it is a benign condition in the upper respiratory tract system and self -limited disease. Cough and Cold medications lead to major side effects although there is limited data about the knowledge and practice of parents towards using it for their children which had a common cold. Objectives: To measure the knowledge of parents, to evaluate the practice of parents and to identify determents of Parents towards using Cough and cold medication for their children which had a common cold at General Pediatrics Clinics in Maternity And Children Hospital in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, KSA, 2019-2020. Design: Cross-section analytic study. Setting: General pediatrics clinics in Maternity and Children Hospital in Makkah Al-Mukarramah. Patient and methods: random selection of parents having children of age 6 years and younger which had a history of common cold and distribution of the valid questionnaire. Main outcome measures: sociodemographic data of parents and their children, practice, determents, and knowledge of Parents towards using cough and cold medication for Their Children Which Had a common cold via questionnaire. Sample size: 214 of parents of pediatric patients. Result: The81.3% of the respondents were female, 75.7% of the sample are Saudi,72.4% were Relationship to the child is a mother of the child,79.0% were aged from 20 to less than 35, 52.3% were the education level is a university and 50.9% were work. The69.2% of the respondents were a child's sex is male, 73.4% were their children aged from two to six years and 85.5%had less than 6 times of common colds during the past year. 96.3% of common colds were diagnosed by the doctor and 34.6% took their children to the Children's clinic in a private hospital. Were 78.0%visit the doctor once a time when their child had a common cold, and 64.5% of the respondents do not use phytomedicine for their child before going to the doctor and 50.9%were using phytomedicine for their child after going to the doctor for the common cold, and 65.0% of them use cough and cold medications for their children during a common cold. There was a statistically significant relationship between common colds among children and demographic variables. Conclusion: Approximately more than half of participated using cough and cold medication when their children had a common cold and there was significant statistically for a side effect of using it, which indicates the need for a further broad study of other sectors and cities. Limitations: Covering a large population in a limited time.