Many Australians are gambling with their health by keeping expired medicines in their homes, a new study finds.
New survey results reveal the average Australian has an average of more than nine different types of pills, drugs and prescriptions in their medicine cabinet.
Over half of those with six or more different types of medication at home acknowledged that some of it was out-of-date.
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NPS MedicineWise chief executive Dr Lynn Weekes AM said in a statement that “clearly” many Australians are holding on to expired medication, which “increases their risk of misadventure”.
“Safe use of medicines is a really important health issue,” Dr Weekes said.
“Most medicines will slowly deteriorate over time, which can make them less effective and in some cases harmful.”
The online survey was conducted by Galaxy Research for non-profit organisation NPS MedicineWise on 1001 Australians aged 18 to 64 and weighted against ABS data to make it representative of the population at large.
Tips to be medicine wise
Australians need to be more aware of their medications, research reveals. Source: Getty
1. Regularly clean out your medicine cabinet.
2. Check the expiry date on all medications.
3. DO NOT flush medicines or throw away in the garbage, as they can end up in waterways or landfill.
4. Instead, dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medicines at your local pharmacy.
5. Keep a medicine list, recording each you are taking, the reason for which it was prescribed, the dose and the expiry.
6. If writing a list is a chore, try the free app MedicineList+ on iTunes and Google Play.
