ReviewJournal of pharmaceutical policy and practice2026
Global patterns and determinants of household medicine storage and disposal: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Improper storage and disposal of unused and expired medicines at home have become a global challenge, creating significant hazards to public health and the environment. This systematic review aimed to explore the prevalence of proper storage and disposal of medicines and to examine factors influencing these proper behaviours. Method: We searched PubMed, Scopus, Springer Link, Science Direct, and EBSCO for articles published between 1 January 1990, and 31 May 2023. Inclusion criteria included studies conducted about medicines in a household setting, articles written in the English language, and full text that could be retrieved. Exclusion criteria included pilot studies, editorials, or opinions. The QualSyst assessment tool was applied to evaluate the quality of the included studies. This systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The prevalence of proper storage and disposal, determinants of proper and improper storage, and proper disposal of medicines were elaborated using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Results: The search found 822 articles and included 61 eligible studies from 27 countries. The overall prevalence of proper medicine storage was only 45%. The proper disposal rates were only 13% for unused medicines and 8% for expired medicines. Proper storage was positively associated with knowledge, education, storage counselling, presence of chronic illness, household size, and the number of children in the household; and negatively associated with age and male gender. Proper disposal was positively associated with awareness, peer influence, knowledge, education, and having family members who are incapable of independently managing their medicine. Conclusion: Proper storage guidance should be included on a medicine label for every medicine dispensed by pharmacists. The take-back programmes campaign and public education related to proper disposal of medicine were recommended to save the environment and public health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.