{
  "abstract": "Background/Objectives: Dietary supplements and over-the-counter (OTC) preparations are widely used to self-manage stress, low mood, and disturbed sleep. Population research has treated such use as one undifferentiated behaviour. We examined whether stress and affective burden co-occur with supplement and OTC use in a purpose-specific way and how they relate to self-medication and primary-care contact. Methods: We analysed cross-sectional data from the National Test of Poles’ Health (non-probability, self-selected web survey; wave 5, 2024; N = 120,000), with trend analyses across five cross-sections (2020–2024). Survey-weighted logistic regression related four indicators of psychological burden to purpose-specific use of mood-, sleep-, and memory-targeted products, with a symptom-by-purpose matrix, age- and sex-stratified replication, and E-values. Results: Mood-product use rose along a gradient of psychological burden, from frequent stress (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] 1.80, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.72–1.88) through work-related exhaustion (2.17, 2.08–2.26) and poor self-rated mental health (2.44, 2.34–2.55) to a lifetime depression diagnosis (2.53, 2.41–2.65). A lifetime depression diagnosis also co-occurred with sleep (1.92, 1.83–2.01) and memory-product use (1.77, 1.69–1.85), while multivitamin and hair/skin use stayed flat (aOR ≈ 1.0). In this subgroup (n = 21,793), targeted use co-occurred with OTC self-medication (mood 1.70, 1.59–1.83; sleep 1.61, 1.50–1.73) without reduced primary-care contact. Associations were observed in both broad age strata (≤54 vs. >54 years) and both sexes (E-values 4.3–9.5). Purpose-specific use rose across the five cross-sections. Conclusions: Supplement use tracks stress and affective burden in a purpose-specific way and, among respondents reporting a lifetime physician diagnosis of depression, accompanies OTC self-medication. This pattern marks a group whose self-management concentrates on preparations with limited trial support. The scope of these findings is set by two features: the depression measure is lifetime, not an assessment of current symptoms, and the questionnaire recorded the purpose of use, not the product identity, ingredients or dose.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Emergency Medical Service, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-616 Wroclaw, Poland",
    "Medonet, Ringier Axel Springer Poland, Domaniewska St. 49, 02-672 Warsaw, Poland",
    "Faculty of Health Science, Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-066 Krakow, Poland",
    "Labplus R&D, Wyspa Słodowa 7, 50-266 Wrocław, Poland",
    "Faculty of Medicine, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, 30-705 Kraków, Poland"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Akanksha Urbanowicz"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Anna Zimny-Zając",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-5566-6278"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Mateusz Dróżdż",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2974-5394"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Grzegorz Mazur",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6610-2008"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Siddarth Agrawal",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1118-5090"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fbrk96fsbkdaz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/nu18213615",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "fbrk96fsbkdaz",
  "issns": [
    "2072-6643"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3615",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fbrk96fsbkdaz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T00:21:06Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/nu18213615",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3615"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:2072-6643",
      "subfield": "nutrition"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Stress, Depression, and Purpose-Specific Use of Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Preparations: A Cross-Sectional Study of 120,000 Polish Adults",
  "title_text": "Stress, Depression, and Purpose-Specific Use of Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Preparations: A Cross-Sectional Study of 120,000 Polish Adults",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T00:21:03Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fbrk96fsbkdaz",
  "venue": "Nutrients",
  "versions": []
}