Analysis of a “Medidump” campaign in Australia

The Australian Commonwealth Department of Health, Housing and Community Services organised a campaign to collect unwanted medicines on a national basis. A representative sample of the returned medicines was analysed. Of the 6,556 items examined, the majority were tablets or capsules. There was a high level of prescription items, with cardiovascular (17.0 per cent), central nervous system (15.7 per cent) and respiratory (14.0 per cent) medications the main therapeutic categories returned. Some individual items occurred in high frequency, more than 100 items each of salbutamol, glyceryl trinitrate, frusemide, theophylline, beclomethasone dipropionate and aspirin being returned. The date of dispensing was only recorded for 45.1 per cent of the sample, and of these 37.6 per cent had been dispensed in the past year. Of the 5,860 items that could be evaluated, 38.9 per cent were unopened and 55.7 per cent had 80 per cent or more of the medication unused. Of the 4,359 items bearing a pharmacy label, 36.4 per cent were unopened and 53.9 per cent had 80 per cent or more of the medication unused. Approximately 55 per cent of cardiac and respiratory drugs and antibiotics were more than three-quarters unused and 45 per cent, 38 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, of items in these therapeutic groups were returned unopened. Although the number of labelled items returned in each of these categories was lower than the total items returned, the percentages of items returned unopened were substantially the same. Some caution must be adopted in interpreting these results as they are based on medications that have been disposed of, and do not represent total medication usage.