Sajjad Esmaeili - department of Pharmacoeoconomics and pharma management, Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
Zahra Karimi Majd - department of Pharmacoeoconomics and pharma management, Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
Hamid Reza Rasekh - department of Pharmacoeoconomics and pharma management, Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mostafa Ghasemi - department of Pharmacoeoconomics and pharma management, Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Peikanpour - department of Pharmacoeoconomics and pharma management, Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mehdi Moeini - department of Social sciences, university of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

Introduction: Child-care products have high usage in daily life; however, there is a little knowledge about use-patterns of them in childhood period. This study was aimed to evaluate the rate and frequency of use, brand loyalty, tendency to scented or unscented products, choosing place of purchase and preferences in selecting domestic or foreign products used for children. Method: Use-patterns of 47 kinds of products such as shampoo, sunscreen, toothpaste, moisturizer, and insect repellant were investigated in 1730 households in eight cities of Iran based on Cochrane sampling by means of a validated questionnaire. The data was analyzed with SPSS24 regarding age, sex, parent-education, number of children in families, total household expenses, and ethnicity of the population. Result and discussion: This study provides significant information about child-care products usage-patterns based on socio-demographic strata. The response rate to questionnaires was 85%. Also, 52.3% of respondents had a girl child and 53.6% of them had children between 2-8 years old. Based on One-Way ANOVA test with a significant p-value<0.05, hair and body shampoo, toothpaste with strawberry taste, anti-diaper rash cream, and sunscreen were the most frequent products used. In addition, toothpaste and hair shampoo with a consumption amount of 357 and 298 grams per year per capita had the highest usage rate, respectively. On the other hand, in all products, people prefer to buy domestic over foreign products, Firooz and Golrang being most favored brands. In addition, pharmacies are the most favored place of purchase by consumers. Moreover, child-care products made 6% of overall household expenditures. Conclusion: This is the first study providing usage pattern of child-care products in Iran. Considering the wide usage of such products, their impact on children health, and the consumer’s preferences, companies and health authorities can take advantage of these results to develop strategies and regulations to optimize use-patterns.

child care, use pattern, household survey, expenditure, Iran