Original Articles
Pandey Shantanu Deviprasad and
Abstract
The existence of medicines in home is a risk factor for irrational drug use. The present study aimed at exploring the prevalence and factors associated with home storage of medicines. A cross sectional survey of 114 households was performed from May-June 2015. A stratified randomized sampling method was employed to select households. A pretested structured questionnaire was administered and respondents were requested to bring out any medicines present in their households. Demographic characteristics, drug name, dosage form, quantity, expiry, source and storage condition was collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 24.0 at 95% level of significance. Of the total households visited, 43(38%) stored drugs. The mean number of drugs per household was 1.63. The most common classes of drugs found in households were anti-hypertensives 32(46%) and anti-diabetics 27(39%). Most of the medicines kept in households were used for ongoing treatments 64(91%) and available in solid dosage form (91%). The expiry date was untraceable for 6(9%) medications and all the medicines were in packaged form. The proportion of home storage of medicines in men (AOR = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.07-0.7) was lower than that of women. However, households having family member(s) working in health facilities (AOR = 7.23, 95% CI: 1.52-34.21) were associated with an increased home storage of medicines. Over a third of households store medicines with antihypertensive drugs being the most common. Woman as gender, elder age, and the presence of health professional in the households affects household drug storage.