A Survey of Health Hazard Cases Caused by Health-Related Products and Pharmacists’ Roles
- VernacularTitle:健康関連商品に関する健康被害の事例と薬剤師の役割
- Author:
Saori TESHIGAWARA
1
;
Yoshiteru MOTEGI
2
;
Shinya ABE
3
;
Hikaru MATSUI
3
;
Hiroshi YAMAGUCHI
3
;
Shouko YOSHIMACHI
3
;
Kazuhiko NOMURA
3
;
Akiko TOMIZAWA
1
;
Koji NARUI
1
Author Information
- Keywords: health hazards; health-related products; health support functions
- From:Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics 2021;23(2):61-71
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
- Abstract: Objective: There have been reports of health hazards caused by medical devices, cosmetics, quasi-drugs, daily necessities, hygiene products, etc. (health-related products) sold in pharmacies and drugstores. However, the role pharmacists play in dealing with the health hazards caused by health-related products has not been clarified. Therefore, we conducted a survey on the cases of health hazards related to health-related products and the views of pharmacists.Methods: A questionnaire was administered anonymously by email to 601 pharmacists working in community pharmacies or drugstores between December 11 and 20, 2019.Results: The number of valid responses was 585. The breakdown of health hazard cases where pharmacists counseled customers were 60 for medical devices, 31 for cosmetics, 18 for quasi-drugs, 9 for hygiene products, and 20 for daily necessities and others. Of those 138 cases, 19 cases of medical devices were estimated to have an intermediate risk as a health hazard, and the other 119 cases were all classified as low. Of the cases that the pharmacists were not approached for help, but were aware of, 57 were medical devices (21 high, 31 intermediate, 5 low), 44 were cosmetics (12 intermediate, 32 low), 12 were quasi-drugs (7 intermediate, 5 low), 7 were hygiene products (7 low), and 64 were daily necessities and others (26 high, 34 intermediate, 4 low). With regard to health-related products, 95% of the respondents indicated that they had responded to customer questions with advice.Conclusion: Our results show that there are various cases that could develop into health hazards due to health-related products, and most respondents felt a need to alert the public. As such, pharmacists and other staffs in drugstores will continue to provide health support functions to their customers by advising them on not only pharmaceuticals but also these health-related products.
