Makki Mutaseim, Hassali Mohamed Azmi, Awaisu Ahmed, Hashmi Furqan
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, Penang 11700, Malaysia.
College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar.
Pharmacy (Basel). 2019 Jun 13;7(2):61. doi: 10.3390/pharmacy7020061.
The prevalence of unused medications in homes has dramatically increased in recent decades, which has resulted in medication wastage. The aim of this study is to review the prevalence of unused medications in homes and to determine the reasons behind this disuse, so as to help reduce such wastage. The review also sheds light on current methods of disposal of unwanted medications. Here, using a narrative review, we provide an overview of the issues of unused medications, medication wastage, and methods of disposal. We conducted an extensive literature search focusing on subject-related keywords, as given in the methods section below. A search was undertaken through indexing services available in the library of the authors' institution. Full-text papers concerned with the prevalence of unused medications in homes, written in English language between 1992 and 2018, were retrieved and reviewed. Twenty-five related studies performed in different world regions were reviewed and included. The public, healthcare providers, and governments are all accused of promoting medication wastage in different ways, and thus, they need to be targeted to solve the problem. It was also noticed that the prevalence of unused medications is high in many countries. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are among the most frequently wasted medications, and most of the public just dispose of their expired medications in the trash or toilet. Non-adherence, death, and medication change are among the main causes of medication accumulation and consequent wastage. A lack of policies to return unwanted medications in some countries, as well as public unawareness, carelessness, or illiteracy, are reasons for improper disposal of unused medications that may lead to adverse economic and environmental impacts. Various mitigation strategies (e.g., smart medicine cabinet) have emerged to reduce medication wastage. Joint work among the public, healthcare providers, and various governmental and private organizations is needed to adequately address the issue of medication wastage.
近几十年来，家庭中未使用药物的 prevalence 显著增加，这导致了药物浪费。本研究的目的是回顾家庭中未使用药物的 prevalence，并确定这种未使用背后的原因，以帮助减少此类浪费。该综述还阐明了当前处理不需要药物的方法。在此，我们通过叙述性综述，概述了未使用药物、药物浪费及处理方法等问题。我们按照以下方法部分给出的与主题相关的关键词进行了广泛的文献检索。通过作者所在机构图书馆提供的索引服务进行了搜索。检索并审查了1992年至2018年期间用英文撰写的、与家庭中未使用药物的 prevalence 相关的全文论文。对在世界不同地区进行的25项相关研究进行了审查并纳入其中。公众、医疗保健提供者和政府都被指责以不同方式助长了药物浪费，因此，需要针对他们来解决这个问题。还注意到许多国家未使用药物的 prevalence 很高。非甾体抗炎药是最常被浪费的药物之一，大多数公众只是将过期药物扔到垃圾桶或马桶里。不依从、死亡和药物更换是药物积累及随之而来的浪费的主要原因。一些国家缺乏回收不需要药物的政策，以及公众缺乏意识、粗心或文盲，是未使用药物处置不当的原因，这可能会导致不利的经济和环境影响。已经出现了各种缓解策略（如智能药柜）来减少药物浪费。公众、医疗保健提供者以及各种政府和私人组织需要共同努力，以充分解决药物浪费问题。
