Environmental knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes regarding caffeine consumption among Chinese university students from the perspective of ecopharmacovigilance

Caffeine is considered the most representative pharmaceutical emerging contaminant (PEC) because of its ubiquity, high environmental abundance, uncovered ecological risks, and its indicator property for anthropogenic environmental inputs of PECs. Ecopharmacovigilance (EPV) targeting caffeine has been proposed as an optimized measure for the control of caffeine pollution sources and the related anthropogenic behaviors from the perspective of pharmacy administration. This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the environmental knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes regarding caffeine consumption among university students, one of the groups with high caffeine consumption, from an EPV perspective. Three hundred and seven usable survey instruments were acquired. The mean score for environmental knowledge about caffeine consumption was 3.66 out of a total of 7. The consumption frequency of caffeinated drinks, food, or drugs among student respondents was low. Throwing away in "household garbage" was an important disposal mechanism for unconsumed caffeinated products. Most students showed positive attitudes and strong intentions toward caffeine pollution control from the perspective of targeted EPV. These data suggested high acceptance of EPV program targeting caffeine among university students. However, more should be done to enhance their related knowledge, and some strengthening interventions for the effective removal of residual caffeine in garbage are needed.