Store medicines carefully - experts

Researchers say standard luggage and some places in the home may adversely affect medicine. Photo / The Auckland

Keeping medication in your bag, bathroom or even in luggage on flights may make it too hot, humid or cold for safe use, new Otago University research suggests.

Under-graduate researchers placed small devices that take regular readings of temperature and humidity in places people kept their medicines.

In Dunedin on a warm day, the front compartment of one backpack left in the sun reached more than 60degC - enough to degrade insulin within hours, said one of the lead researchers Clare Strachan.

Temperatures in cars in the sun where medicines were kept were also high - more than 50degC.

Surprisingly to the researchers, the study also found that cargo holds in planes can dip below freezing point on long haul flights. In the study the temperature fell to minus 4degC, enough to be damaging to a range of medicines, such as emulsions, solutions and proteins.

Pharmacy student Campbell Hewson also found that kitchens and bathrooms were the most commonly reported rooms for storing medicines. In one bathroom 100 per cent humidity was reached, while a kitchen reached 85 per cent.

Dr Strachan said excess humidity could potentially cause chemical degradation or physical changes, which may affect the efficacy, safety or appearance of the medicine.

- NZPA