Introduction: Respiratory illness (RI) is common, and as COVID has taught us, can have a significant impact on health likely leading to changes in attitudes and behaviours.

Aims and objectives: To explore how consumers currently approach the management of their most recent RI and the opportunities this presents for advice and education.

Methods: Questionnaire and telephone interviews were conducted in 12 countries globally. Respondents aged 18?64 years, who had experienced and treated RI in the past 6 months were included.

Results: In total, 12,000 adults completed the questionnaire (1,000 per country). The highest self-reported cause of RI was viral, namely cold, flu or COVID (64%), with headache (51%), sneezing (46%) and sore throat (44%) the symptoms most frequently cited. Most respondents had sought advice to treat their symptoms, with doctor (44%), pharmacist (39%), or family/friends (28%) ranking highest, followed by internet search (19%); 14% did not seek advice. Over half of those who sought advice were instructed to get a product from the pharmacy (52%), around a third were prescribed a treatment that was not an antibiotic (e.g. analgesics) (34%), a similar number were prescribed an antibiotic (31%), and 4% were not recommended any treatment. Almost all (99%) reported taking some form of action when unwell, including forms of self-care such as drinking fluids (41%) and using cough (37%), cold (36%) and sore throat medications (35%).

Conclusions: The symptoms of RI are actively managed by consumers through self-care, advice seeking and pharmacy medications. Inappropriate antibiotic usage appears high, offering opportunities for stronger education on more suitable management.