Abstract

A STUDY ON PRESCRIBING PATTERN AND COST IMPACT OF ANTIEMETIC DRUG IN PATIENTS WITH CANCER

Elahe Elhami* and Channaraya V.

ABSTRACT

Background: Cancer is defined as the uncontrolled growth of cells, which can invade and spread to distant sites of the body. Objective: study the pattern of anti emetic drug use among the cancer patients Methods: A prospective, cross sectional, observational study was conducted for 6 months in 86 cancer patients admitted in the KIMS hospital, Bangalore. Data were extracted from the patient’s case sheets, patients’/ attendants’ interviews and were collected by using data collection forms. Information was collected and recorded regarding socio-demographic details of the patients, pertaining to age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumption. The prescription pattern of antiemetic drugs was assessed using WHO prescribing indicators.Results: Out of 86 cancer patients, 45 (52.32%) were male and 41 (47.67%) were females with mean age of 55±11.94 years. We found that 20 (23.25%) patients were on monotherapy, 35 (40.69%) patients on two drug therapies, 22 (25.58%) patients were on three drug therapies, 9 (10.46%) patients were on four drug therapies. Out of 187 drugs prescribed for 86 patients, most common drugs were ondansetron with (32.08%) prescription, follow by dexamethasone (29.41%), aprepitant (21.39%) pantoprazole (10.69%), and lorazepam (6.41%). About 110 (58.82) of the prescribed drugs where from essential drug list (EDL) 2015. 79 (42.24) patients were prescribed with generic names. Average number of antiemetic drugs per prescription was found to be 2.23±0.92. The mean prescription cost of antiemetic drugs for 5 days was found to be 620.81 INR.

Keywords: cancer, chemotherapy, nausea and vomiting, anti emetic drugs, cost.