An ongoing issue of expired medications accumulating in some households is a universal problem around the world. The aim of the study was to investigate the extent and structure of expired ...medications in Serbian households, and to determine which therapeutic groups generated the most waste.
This was an observational, cross-sectional study conducted in households in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. The study had been performed over 8 month period (December 2011 - July 2012) and it consisted of personal insights into the medication inventory in households.
Of 1008 families, 383 agreed to participate and complete the questionnaire (38.3% response rate). In almost a half of households (44.4%), expired medications were maintained. The amount of expired medications was 402 items, corresponding to 9.2% of total medications presented in surveyed households. The majority of expired medications (64.7%) was in solid dosage (tablets, capsules, granules, lozenges), following semisolid (ointments, creams, gel, suppositories) and liquid dosage forms (drops, syrups). Expired medications in the households belonged mostly to 3 categories: antimicrobials for systemic use (16.7%), dermatological preparation (15.9%) and medications for alimentary tract and metabolism (14.2%).
This study revealed that there were relatively large quantities of expired medications in Serbian households, with a high prevalence of antibiotics for systemic use, anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic products, and medications for alimentary tract and metabolism.
Professional drivers' knowledge about driving-impairing medications is not satisfactory. The aim of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of the questionnaires designed to ...measure the knowledge and attitude of professional drivers about the influence of various medications on driving ability.
The questionnaires for assessing professional driver's knowledge (performance-based) and attitudes about influence of various medications on driving abilities were developed by creating the item pool, testing reliability and validity, and factor analysis. The study was conducted as a multicenter, cross-sectional study in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study population consisted of professional drivers, who filled out both questionnaires in three time intervals.
Both questionnaires showed great internal consistency and temporal stability. Cronbach's Alpha for the first questionnaire was 0.984 and for the second it was 0.944. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test for the first questionnaire confirmed sampling adequacy with its value of 0.964 and for the second questionnaire it was 0.933. Exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire showed that three factors were revealed after rotation for the first questionnaire and they explained 78.0% of variance. Both questionnaires showed high degree of correlation between scores after the first and repeated administration, Spearman's rho coefficient of correlation for was 0.962 and 0.980.
Based on the results of this study, we believe that both questionnaires are useful tools for testing professional drivers' knowledge and attitudes about the influence of medications on driving ability.
Previous studies among the Serbian population concluded that the trend of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills requires deeper study. The objective is to identify gender differences ...in socio-demographic, health, and health service predictors of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills in a Serbian population of 15 years old and above.
This was a population-based, cross-sectional study. Data was extracted from the most recently available results of the Serbian National Health Survey of 2013. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine independent self-medication predictors.
The study included 14,623 participants, of which 51.77% were female. While 5.6% of the females reported self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills, only 2.2% of males reported such practice (p<0.001). The presence of chronic disease, stress, and physical pain in the last month before the interview was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of self-medication with observed drugs in both genders. Age was the most significant socio-demographic predictor of self-medication in females, while in males it was unemployment. Women of 55-65 years of age showed a greater risk from self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills in comparison to women of 15-24 years of age (aOR=4.75, 95% CI: 1.83-12.33). Unemployed males showed a greater tendency for such practice in comparison to employed (aOR=1.86, 95% CI: 1.19-2.91).
The findings highlighted predictors of self-medication with tranquillizers and sleeping pills and important differences between genders, which may contribute to the design of gender-sensitive surveillance, identification, and the prevention of such undesirable practices through evidence-based and appropriately tailored public health actions.
Uvod: Podobna biološka zdravila so trenutno realnost farmacevtskega trga v Evropski uniji. Članek opisuje trenutno zakonodajno politiko pridobitve registracij podobnih bioloških zdravil v državah ...Evropske unije in v Srbiji, ki ni članica EU. Izvedena je bila tudi podrobna analiza porabe podobnih bioloških zdravil na srbskem trgu.
Background: Biosimilars are currently a reality of the pharmaceutical market in the European Union. This paper describes the current regulatory policy for approving biosimilars both in the European ...Union and in Serbia, which is not a Member State. Also, a comprehensive analysis on biosimilars consumption data on the Serbian market has been performed.
The European Medicines Agency has established a series of biosimilar scientific guidelines that comprises a regulatory policy for biosimilars in the European Union. This has enabled different biosimilar products to be marketed, making the European Union biosimilar market the most developed one globally. In the paper, this regulatory environment has been analysed, emphasising all relevant biosimilar guidelines as well as marketed biosimilar medicines. Also, an analysis is performed on Serbian regulatory requirements for approving and marketing biosimilars, analysing the Serbian regulatory authority’s consumption data as well as data available from the National Health Insurance Institution.
In the paper, the comprehensive analysis of the current European Union as well as Serbian regulatory environment has been presented, with a special emphasis on the Serbian market potential for biosimilar medicines. Detailed consumption data has been analysed for the period 2007-2011.
Serbia has good potential for biosimilar products, which is supported by national health insurance policy and the general trend of cutting the reimbursement costs for prescription medicines. Five year consumption data for biosimilars in Serbia shows that the Serbian biosimilars market is very small in terms of market share values, especially comparing to other large European biosimilar markets.
Uvod: Podobna biološka zdravila so trenutno realnost farmacevtskega trga v Evropski uniji. Članek opisuje trenutno zakonodajno politiko pridobitve registracij podobnih bioloških zdravil v državah Evropske unije in v Srbiji, ki ni članica EU. Izvedena je bila tudi podrobna analiza porabe podobnih bioloških zdravil na srbskem trgu.
Evropska agencija za zdravila je uvedla vrsto znanstvenih smernic za registracijo bioloških zdravil, ki veljajo za zakonodajo na tem področju v Evropski uniji. To je omogočilo registracijo številnih podobnih bioloških zdravil in farmacevtski trg v državah Evropske unije velja za enega izmed najrazvitejših na svetovni ravni. V članku je opisano zakonodajno okolje s poudarkom na vseh pomembnih regulatornih smernicah in tudi analiza registriranih podobnih bioloških zdravil. Prav tako je narejena analiza predpisanih regulatornih zahtev za pridobitev registracij in trženje podobnih bioloških zdravil v Srbiji; izvedena je bila tudi analiza porabe registriranih zdravil v Srbiji prek podatkov srbske agencije za zdravila in zavoda za zdravstveno zavarovanje.
V članku je predstavljena celovita analiza trenutnega zakonodajnega okolja v državah Evropske unije in v Srbiji s poudarkom na tržnem potencialu podobnih bioloških zdravil v Srbiji. Prav tako je podana podrobna analiza porabe bioloških zdravil za obdobje 2007-2011.
Srbija ima dober potencial za podobna biološka zdravila, ki so podprta z nacionalno zdravstveno politiko zavarovanja in s splošnim trendom zmanjševanja povračil stroškov za zdravila na recept. Petletni podatki o porabi podobnih bioloških zdravil v Srbiji kažejo, da je srbski trg zelo majhen v njihovi porabi, še posebej v primerjavi z drugimi večjimi evropskimi trgih podobnih bioloških zdravil.