Assessment of knowledge and practice on consumption of expired pharmaceuticals: A cross-sectional study at Karachi, Pakistan

The objective is to assess the awareness level and practice for the consumption of expired pharmaceuticals in general public of Karachi, Pakistan. In this regard, a cross-sectional study was conducted and completed from December 2013 to September 2014. 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.