CAUSES AND DISPOSAL PRACTICES OF LEFTOVER MEDICINES AMONG DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS, THAILAND

Leftover medicines or oversupplied medications are associated with high costs and hospitalization risks, especially in patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes. The current situation of leftover medicines for outpatients was investigated. Pharmacists reported the number of leftover medicines to physicians and facilitated a decrease in the dosing days of prescriptions to reuse leftover medicines. This study aims to find causes and disposal practices of leftover medicines and the effect on having the leftover medicines by structured questionnaire interview. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 410 diabetic patients using a stratified random sampling method. Using logistic regression to analyses factors related to the leftover medicines. Among 410 diabetic patients, 48.00% had leftover medicines. The main causes of having the leftover medicines were over-prescription (45.50%) and forgetting some dosing. Three statistical significance factors related to the leftover medicines were found using Logistic regression analysis. These factors, including making an appointment with a physician more than 65 days (adj. OR=1.99; 95%CI = 1.321-3.016), having more than four types of medicines per day (adj. OR=3.59; 95%CI = 2.042-6.328), and taking more than five pills per day (adj. OR=0.42; 95%CI = 0.254-0.705), increased the risk of having leftover medicines. Analyzing the problems and causes of leftover medicines reveals the solutions and chance of improving the medication system in many aspects.