UNUSED MEDICINES IN URMIA HOUSEHOLDS IN 2016

One of the health problems in each country is the collection of surplus drugs in
homes, which these drugs impose economic costs on the health system as well as can cause problems
for families such as poisoning and excessive consumption. This study aimed to investigate the unused
drugs in Urmia city.
Materials & Methods: This was cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic research. Sampling method
was cluster based on four urban areas which 256 households were distributed within these areas. The
data gathering tool was a questionnaire which by visiting homes and method of interviewing and drug
observing were obtained the percentage of households with surplus drugs, forms and family of drugs,
expiration date of drugs, price of drugs and their keeping place in Urmia’s homes in 2017. The data were
analyzed by SPSS software.
Results: The results showed that 88% of households kept unused drugs at home. That is, there were an
average of 8.27 number of drugs at each home with the value of 81050 Rials per capita, which is a huge
amount at the macro level and it is approximately equivalent to the country's one-year drug budget. The
most common form and family of drugs among surplus drugs were pills (87%) and analgesics (24.4%),
respectively.
Conclusion: Partial utility of drug usage and the subsequent use of remaining drugs, which may be kept
after their expiration date, endanger not only the health of patients, but also increase the cost of health
care. Therefore, increasing people's awareness about how to use and store drugs can prevent from
wasting too much money.