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

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.