OBJECTIVE

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To analyze the focal points and allocation characteristics of China’s household expired drug recycling policy texts， providing evidence for overcoming attention bottlenecks and optimizing drug management.

METHODS

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The policy texts of China’s household expired drug recycling policy were obtained from the database. A quantitative analysis of the policy texts was conducted using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation （LDA） model. Additionally， in conjunction with attention theory， the characteristics of the government’s attention allocation on relevant issues were examined systematically.

RESULTS &CONCLUSIONS

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Three themes emerged from 158 policy texts: enhancing public awareness campaigns on household expired drug recycling （Topic 0）， improving the quality of household expired drug recycling efforts in relevant units （Topic 1）， and standardizing household expired drug recycling procedures （Topic 2）. Topic 0 exhibited the highest thematic intensity， while Topic 1 demonstrated the lowest. China’s household expired drug recycling policies suffered from unclear accountability， generalized oversight， and superficial grassroots implementation. These issues undermined public awareness of recycling practices， constrained policy effectiveness， and revealed structural biases in attention allocation and content imbalances during policy formulation. It is recommended that the government improve legislation and recycling mechanisms， innovate publicity models， and establish a routine monitoring system. This will promote the institutionalization， standardization， and efficiency of household expired drug recycling， ensuring public medication safety.