Assessment of Knowledge and Practice on Consumption of Expired Pharmaceuticals: A Cross-Sectional Study at Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

. Self-administered study instrument was used which consisted of total 11 variables regarding the assessment of participants' perspective on product expiry and its usage was distributed to 120 participants. Data were analyzed in SPSS version16.0. Primarily descriptive nature was used while frequency percentages of respondents were computed for categorical variables. Mean ± SD were computed for assessment of knowledge scores. Overall response rate was 83.33% in which 74 male and 26 females filled the study instrument. Average scores of respondents' awareness regarding expiry of pharmaceutical products was 4.62 ± 0.75. The qualification of respondents includes the graduates' count (64.9% male and 65.4% females) while 16.2% male and 23.1% female were postgraduate. Response distribution of respondents showed that 93.2% male and 92.3% female were aware about the product expiry concept. Similarly, 87.8% male and 96.2% female were in favor for their non-utilization, as 89.2% male and 96.2% female reported its severe harmful effects. Overall, 87.8% male and 76.9% female were interested to discard such products. Interestingly, 82.4% male, 73.1% female were in full opinion to check the product expiry date before its purchase whereas, 78.4% male and 92.3% female have their opinion to purchase long expiry products. Box plot regarding products preference and total aggregated knowledge scores showed consistency. Results concluded that the knowledge, responses and practices of participants were in favor for the non-utilization of expired pharmaceuticals.

Comparison of the knowledge, attitude, and practices of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists regarding the use of expired and disposal of unused medicines in Delhi

“…Similarly, a study of the general public in Karachi opined that their use was harmful. [19] The knowledge of HCPs and consumers in this regard may be based on the propagation of information by the drug regulators[20] and pharmaceutical industry, generally not supported by scientific evidence, though the use of expired date tetracycline has found to be associated with permanent harm. [12] In the process of drug development, a new chemical entity is not studied for any deterioration in its efficacy, potency, and safety after proposed expiry date; however, its expiry date is based on stability and sterility studies.…”

Patients’ knowledge, attitude, and practices toward unused medications in Qatar: A cross-sectional survey

“…The same sample size (n = 385) was estimated when the Raosoft sample size calculator 2004 ( http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html ) was used in similar studies [ 29 , 30 ], considering that the total population of Qatar was 2,930,528 in 2021 [ 31 ], with a confidence level of 95 %, a margin of error of 5 %, and a response distribution of 50 %. Similar to the calculation strategy employed by a study exploring unused medications among the public in Malta [ 32 ], the estimated sample size in this study was 385 to give 95 % confidence intervals with a 5 % margin of error.…”