Background: The aim of this study was to systematically review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and causes of self-medication in health center setting of Iran.Methods: In this systematic review and Meta-Analysis study, required data were collected by searching the following key words: medication, self-medication, over-the-counter, non-prescription, prevalence, epidemiology, etiology, occurrence, health centre and Iran in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, and Iranmedex. To estimate the overall self-medication prevalence, computer software CMA2 was used. In order to report the results, forest plot was employed.Results: Out of 2511 articles, 16 articles entered to study. The overall prevalence of self-medication based on the random effect model was estimated to be 41% (95% CI, lowest= 31%, highest=53%). The prevalence of self-medication in pregnant women and the patients in health centers was estimated to be 41%(95% CI, lowest = 32%, highest = 54%)and 46%(95% CI, lowest = 30%, highest = 69%) respectively. The most important cause of self-medication was lack of health insurance. The most common disease for which the patients self-medicated was common cold and the most frequently used group of medicines was sedatives.Conclusion: Rising the insurance coverage, giving awareness to the patients and culture-building can be applied to encourage the people for rational use of medicines.
