Knowledge and practices in the disposal of expired medications in the community
Keywords:
drug disposal, health education, waste managementAbstract
Introduction: The improper disposal of expired medications poses a risk to public health and the environment. Household practices for managing pharmaceutical waste are often inadequate, highlighting the importance of studying and improving final disposal strategies.
Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and disposal practices regarding expired medications within the community.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using structured surveys applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 234 patients. Three main variables were evaluated: knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to the disposal of expired medications. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods, including frequencies, percentages, and measures of central tendency.
Results: Sixty-five percent of respondents reported discarding medications in household trash, while only 15% chose to return them to pharmacies or designated collection centers. The remaining 20% followed other practices, such as pouring them down the drain, which increases the risk of water resource contamination. The main reasons cited were lack of awareness of proper disposal methods and the absence of accessible collection programs.
Conclusions: Inadequate medication disposal practices in households in Lima, underscoring the need to implement educational campaigns and public policies that promote safe and sustainable practices. In addition to demonstrating the need for collaboration between health and environmental institutions, it is essential to mitigate risks and foster responsible citizen awareness regarding the management of expired medications.
Downloads
References
1. Oscanoa TJ. Acceso y usabilidad de medicamentos: propuesta para una definición operacional [Internet]. Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y salud Pública. 2012; 29(1):119-26. DOI: 10.1590/s1726-46342012000100018
2. Sarla GS. Efficacy and disposal of drugs after the expiry date [Internet]. The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine. 2019; 31(4):431-34. DOI: 10.4103/ejim.ejim_110_19
3. Henderson N, Rieder F, Wynn T. Fibrosis: de los mecanismos a los medicamentos [Internet]. Nature. 2020; 587:555–66. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2938-9
4. Nepal S, Giri A, Bhandari R, Chand S, Nepal S, Aryal S, et al. Poor and unsatisfactory disposal of expired and unused pharmaceuticals: a global issue [Internet]. Current Drug Safety. 2020; 15(3):167-72. DOI: 10.2174/1574886315666200626164001
5. Saavedra KV. Una revisión de la revolución industrial 4.0 y sus métodos de implementación en las nuevas industrias [Internet]. Encuentro Internacional de Educación en Ingeniería. 2022. DOI: 10.26507/paper.2210
6. Camino‐Mogro S, Armijos-Bravo G, Brito-Gaona L. Productividad empresarial en el sector manufacturero y crecimiento económico en ecuador para el período 2007-2017 [Internet]. Ecuador: Editorial Utmach; 2020. DOI: 10.48190/9789942241382.3
7. Freitas L, Radis-Baptista G. Pharmaceutical Pollution and Disposal of Expired, Unused, and Unwanted Medicines in the Brazilian Context [Internet]. J Xenobiot. 2021; 11(2):61-76. DOI: 10.3390/jox11020005
8. Quispe R, Begazo A, Sanchez-Gutierrez F, Ponce Y. Mejora de la gestión y manejo de residuos sólidos hospitalarios [Internet]. Ciencia Latina Revista Científica Multidisciplinar. 2023; 7(1):5802-20. DOI: 10.37811/cl_rcm.v7i1.4885
9. Arden N, Fisher A, Tyner K, Yu L, Lee S, Kopcha M. Industry 4.0 for pharmaceutical manufacturing: Preparing for the smart factories of the future [Internet]. Int J Pharm. 2021; 602:120554. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.120554
10. Yamada Y, Sato Y, Nakamura T, Harashima H. Evolution of drug delivery system from viewpoint of controlled intracellular trafficking and selective tissue targeting toward future nanomedicine [Internet]. J Controlled Release. 2020; 327:33–545. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.09.007
11. Alvarado-Rojas A. Conocimientos del personal de enfermería sobre administración de medicamentos en pacientes de terapia intensiva [Internet]. Revista Arbitrada Interdisciplinaria de Ciencias de la Salud y Vida. 2023; 7(1):111-8. DOI: 10.35381/s.v.v7i1.3536
12. Martínez-Urzola F, Munar E, Pimentel J. Estrategias de gestión en salud pública para la eliminación de la malaria en américa latina en 2010-2021: una revisión sistemática exploratoria [Internet]. Ces Medicina. 2022; 36(3):52-68. DOI: 10.21615/cesmedicina.6904
13. Serna-Martínez M. La inseguridad alimentaria y su relación con las enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles en México y el mundo [Internet]. Educación y salud Boletín Científico Instituto de Ciencias de la salud Universidad Autónoma Del Estado de Hidalgo. 2023; 12(23):58-67. DOI: 10.29057/icsa.v12i23.11170
14. Bashaar M, Thawani V, Hassali MA, Saleem F. Disposal practices of unused and expired pharmaceuticals among general public in Kabul [Internet]. BMC Public Health. 2017; 17:45. DOI: 0.1186/s12889-016-3983-z
15. Al-Shareef F, Ali A, Al-Shahrani S, et al. Investigation of medications storage and disposal practice among Saudi families [Internet]. Int J Clin Pharm. 2016; 38(3):710-6. DOI: 10.1007/s11096-016-0283-5
16. Ayele Y, Mamu M. Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards disposal of unused and expired pharmaceuticals among community in Harar city, Eastern Ethiopia [Internet]. J Pharm Policy Pract. 2018; 11(1):27. DOI: 10.1186/s40545-018-0155-9
17. Cortés-Sánchez JD, Martínez-Buitrago L, Vásquez-Trespalacios EM. Conocimiento sobre el manejo de medicamentos vencidos en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud. Rev Cienc Cuid. 2020; 17(2):91–102. DOI: 10.22463/17949831.2631
18. Amador-Lara C, Hernández-Palomares Y, Gómez-Salgado J, Romero-Martín M. Conocimiento y prácticas sobre eliminación de medicamentos en estudiantes universitarios [Internet]. Rev Cienc Salud. 2021; 19(3):438–449. DOI: 10.12804/revsalud19.03.2021.08
19. Rauniar G, Khan G, Rana M, Das B, Sharma S. Assessment of disposal practices of expired and unused medicines among community people in Nepal [Internet]. BMC Public Health. 2021; 21(1):118. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-10164-y
20. Nyagah D, Njagi A, Nyaga M. Pharmaceutical waste: overview, management and impact of improper disposal [Internet]. 2020; 3(2):1-12 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4088224
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Jenny Rosalyn Huerta León, Jhonnel Williams Samaniego Joaquin, Gerson Córdova Serrano, Yraida Cárdenas Perez, Rosalinda Colonia Cruz, Javier Sánchez Siesquen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who have publications with this Journal accept the following terms:
- The authors will retain their copyright and guarantee the Journal the right of first publication of their work, which will simultaneously be subject to the Creative Commons Attribution License. The content presented here can be shared, copied and redistributed in any medium or format; Can be adapted, remixed, transformed or created from the material, using the following terms: Attribution (giving appropriate credit to the work, providing a link to the license, and indicating if changes have been made); non-commercial (you cannot use the material for commercial purposes) and share-alike (if you remix, transform or create new material from this work, you can distribute your contribution as long as you use the same license as the original work).
- The authors may adopt other non-exclusive license agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (for example: depositing it in an institutional electronic archive or publishing it in a monographic volume) as long as the initial publication in this Journal is indicated.
- Authors are allowed and recommended to disseminate their work through the Internet (e.g., in institutional electronic archives or on their website) before and during the submission process, which can produce interesting exchanges and increase citations. of the published work.
