Addressing the disposal of unused and expired medications in Saudi households: Time to bridge the regulatory gaps

Abstract

Introduction This study aimed to investigate the awareness, and practice towards disposal of unused, leftover, and expired medications among the residents of Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 877 residents through an online-based questionnaire Participants have to be adults aged 18 years or older of either gender, psychologically stable, able to provide informed consent and understand the Arabic language otherwise, were excluded. A pre-validated, structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using R software. For all analyses, p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Most of the [70%] respondents had unused medications, [62%] reported to store their unused medications in the refrigerator followed by bedroom cabinet [36%]. The majority [88%] dispose of unused medicines by throwing away in the household dustbins. The vast majority throw away near expiry [73%], and expired medicines [92%], in the household dustbins. Majority [86%] of the participants denied receiving formal education/awareness regarding safe medications disposal where [60%] agrees that the responsible sector for educating the public about safe medications disposal should be pharmacies. A significant but weak association [p < 0.05; φc = 0.1], between the storage of unused medicines at home and demographic factors such as age, marital status, education, and income was found. Conclusions In conclusion our study highlighted the concern that study respondents frequently store medications in refrigerator [62%] and discard unused and expired medications improperly in the dustbin [88%]. Study results call upon concerned authorities to raise awareness and provide regulatory guidelines for the safe disposal of medications by the residents.