Sumera Akram, Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Ahmed Khan.
A Cross-Sectional Survey of Trend of Poppy Use as Folk Remedy for Children.
Pak Paed J Jan ;45(1):63-8.

Objective: To assess the trend of poppy use as folk remedy for children at Mardan and surroundings. Study design: Cross-sectional observational study. Duration and Place of Study: This study was carried out from August 2019 to January 2020 at Mardan. Material and Methods: A door to door survey of 500 families residing in Mardan, was carried out. Eligible families/households (having 0 - 12 years aged children) were selected randomly from all these locations of Mardan. A pre-test structured questionnaire proforma was formulated which contained information about trend of using poppy parts (pods) as a remedy for children. Chi square was applied to analyze qualitative variables and independent T test was applied to analyse quantitative variables. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Total 500 questionnaires were filled. Out of these, 250 belonged to urban/city areas (group A) and 250 from rural areas (group B). Out of 250 urban families, 93 (37.2%) families used poppy for their children in comparison to 226 (90.4%) families of rural areas. The research showed significantly more use of poppy for children in rural areas as compared to urban areas (p=0.000). People used poppy primarily for treating cough. There was strong association between education status of parents, poppy use being significantly more in children of uneducated parents (p=0.000). Conclusion: Poppy is commonly used by people as household remedy to treat cough, fever and crying babies as folk remedy. Its use is more in rural areas as compared to urban areas.

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