Medication Disposal Practices, Awareness, and Medication Adherence Among Patients with Chronic Conditions: Implications for Public Health

Su-Han Hsu^#^{1

2

3}, Shu-Chuan Wu^#⁴, Si-Wen Lin², Yu-Cheng Lin², Yu-Meng Yang⁵, Shih-Horng Huang⁶, Joseph Jordan Keller^{7

8

9}, Kung-Pei Tang^{10

11}, Li-Hsuan Wang^{1

12}

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Pharmacy, Taipei City Hospital Yangming Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Pharmacy, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Graduate Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, MI, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Education and Humanities in Medicine, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹¹ Department of Early Childhood and Family Education, College of Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹² Department of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 41497341
PMCID: PMC12765919
DOI: 10.2147/JMDH.S570407

Medication Disposal Practices, Awareness, and Medication Adherence Among Patients with Chronic Conditions: Implications for Public Health

Su-Han Hsu et al. J Multidiscip Healthc. 2025.

. 2025 Dec 31:18:8365-8376.

doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S570407. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Su-Han Hsu^#^{1

2

3}, Shu-Chuan Wu^#⁴, Si-Wen Lin², Yu-Cheng Lin², Yu-Meng Yang⁵, Shih-Horng Huang⁶, Joseph Jordan Keller^{7

8

9}, Kung-Pei Tang^{10

11}, Li-Hsuan Wang^{1

12}

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Pharmacy, Taipei City Hospital Yangming Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Pharmacy, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Graduate Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, MI, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Education and Humanities in Medicine, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹¹ Department of Early Childhood and Family Education, College of Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹² Department of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 41497341
PMCID: PMC12765919
DOI: 10.2147/JMDH.S570407

Abstract

Purpose: Medication disposal knowledge is a key component of safe pharmaceutical management, while medication adherence remains essential for achieving optimal treatment outcomes among patients with chronic conditions. However, poor adherence may contribute to medication accumulation and waste, which, if not disposed of properly, can pose risks to environmental and public health. Therefore, this study aimed to assess medication disposal knowledge, policy awareness and satisfaction, as well as medication adherence among chronic disease patients, and to examine how these outcomes differed across demographic and clinical subgroups.

Patients and methods: A cross-sectional design was employed, collecting data from 273 chronic disease patients with long term medication usages at a hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. The questionnaire covered knowledge of medication disposal, medication adherence, clarity of the disposal policy and satisfaction with the disposal policy promotional strategies, and socio-demographics. Independent samples t-tests were used to assess the influence of demographic characteristics on knowledge and adherence. Pearson correlation coefficients were applied to evaluate the relationship between knowledge of medication disposal and medication adherence.

Results: Younger age and higher education were associated with better medication disposal knowledge. Medication adherence was significantly higher among patients over 65, lower education, who lived alone and those taking five or more medications. The medication disposal knowledge was not significantly different between good or poor adherence. Although most respondents were unaware of the recycling label on medication bags, those who knew the location of disposal stations scored higher knowledge of medication disposal, clarity in the disposal policy and satisfaction with the disposal policy promotional strategies.

Conclusion: Medication disposal competency plays an important role in reducing environmental harm, especially in people with poor adherence. Improving knowledge of medication disposal and adherence remains a key objective for medication safety and health issues.

Keywords: cross-sectional survey; environmental health; health literacy; medication taking behavior; pharmaceutical waste; public health policy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interests in this work.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Study flow diagram of participant recruitment and inclusion.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Medication Disposal Practices, Awareness, and Medication Adherence Among Patients with Chronic Conditions: Implications for Public Health

Affiliations

Medication Disposal Practices, Awareness, and Medication Adherence Among Patients with Chronic Conditions: Implications for Public Health

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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References

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