Are expired drugs bad for your health?
Have you ever come across expired medications and wondered if you were taking it or not? Ask your questions about the topic!
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You're in your house, calm... Suddenly that uncomfortable and persistent headache appears. You go to your medicine box and pick up the pill box. Behold, he realizes that the drug has passed its expiration date. What do you do? Are you going to take expired medications anyway? This question is very common. Let's understand it better!
The expiration date is the deadline that manufacturers guarantee 100% of a drug's potential. The expiration date exists on all medications and this is stipulated by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) by law. Each medicine has its own set of ingredients and in the development phase, pharmaceutical laboratories carry out rigorous studies to determine the stability and the time these ingredients will remain without deterioration, that is, the shelf life of the medicine. Therefore, if the expiration date expires there is no guarantee that the drug will have full effect.
The effect can last for years
Several sources (The Wall Street Journal, CNN, a study by the University of California, São Paulo Regional Council of Pharmacy) state that certain drugs continue to be effective even after their expiry date and what can occur is a decrease in therapeutic efficacy. How they are stored also influences the preservation of medication efficiency (learn how to store your medications by reading the article "Cleaning and organizing your medicine chest or cabinet with six simple tips").
A study carried out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal public health agency in the United States, focused on research on the expiration date of medicines stored by the military; and the result showed that the expiration date can extend for years. As the medicines expired, the stock had to be replenished and this cost a lot of money. The study showed that 90% of the drugs analyzed remain safe and efficient for use for more than 15 years after the expiration date. It is proven that the drug loses its effectiveness over time, but the study indicates that most of the original effectiveness remains. Exceptions may be nitroglycerin, insulin and liquid antibiotics.
However, it is worth remembering that the study took place in military stocks of medicines, where the form of storage is controlled, different from what happens with common consumers who keep their medicines at home.
So can you take expired medications? Not
Despite this information, the FDA still advises NOT to take expired medications. The agency warns that taking these drugs can be dangerous or less effective, as their physicochemical characteristics can be altered. Taking expired medications, such as antibiotics, can lead to more serious illnesses and also to increased bacterial resistance - an example is the case of the antibiotic tetracycline, which after the expiration date can cause kidney disease. For important and continuous-use medications, such as life-threatening medications for heart disease, seizures, or allergies, it is also appropriate to take no chances and get a new prescription.
Anvisa characterizes expired or wrongly packaged and transported medications as inappropriate medications and defends the correct disposal of expired medications. The World Health Organization, linked to the UN, does not use expired drugs received from donations. The expiration date exists for a reason, so it's not advisable to use them after that time; using the medication correctly as indicated by the physician and the package insert is essential to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the medication.
Don't know where to discard? Read the article "What are the risks of incorrectly disposing of medications? How to avoid them? " and search for the stations closest to you:Search supported by: Roche Watch the video (in English) on the consumption of expired drugs:
