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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2019; 40(01): 105-110
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_156_18
Original Article

Drug utilization evaluation of anticancer drugs in a charitable hospital

Maneesha Mathew
Department of Pharmacy Practice, NGSM Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Uday Venkat Mateti
Department of Pharmacy Practice, NGSM Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Neethu Saj
Department of Pharmacy Practice, NGSM Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Malona Lilly Philip
Department of Pharmacy Practice, NGSM Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Vijith Shetty
Department of Medical Oncology, K. S. Hegde Medical Academy, Justice K. S. Hegde Charitable Hospital, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Background: Evaluating the prescribing patterns of anticancer and supportive care drugs is necessary for ensuring effectiveness and patient's quality of life. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the prescribing patterns in patients receiving chemotherapy. Settings and Design: A prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Medical Oncology at Justice K. S. Hegde Charitable Hospital. Methods: The study was conducted for 8 months from September 2017 to April 2018. Cancer patients who were above 18 years and are on chemotherapy along with supportive care medications were enrolled. Statistical Analysis: Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Continuous data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation, and the nominal data were expressed as frequency and percentages. Results: Among 230 patients, majority of patients were in the age group of 45–60 years (47%), females (51.7%), Stage III (51.3%), solid tumor (85.5%), breast cancer (21.7%), doublet regimen (60.4%), who received doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (36%) in breast cancer while paclitaxel and carboplatin (16.52%) were mostly prescribed among the different cancer types. The most commonly prescribed supportive care medications were dexamethasone (100%), ranitidine (100%), filgrastim (67.4%), tramadol and paracetamol (23.91%), and levofloxacin (9.56%). The percentage of drugs prescribed from the National List Essential Medicine and the World Health Organization (WHO) model list was 80.84% and 78.92%, respectively. Conclusion: According to the WHO core prescribing indicators, the average number of drugs per prescription was 9.63. Majority of the cancer patients were prescribed with paclitaxel and carboplatin (16.52%); dexamethasone and ranitidine (100%) were coadministered in all patients during their chemotherapy cycles.

Keywords

Cancer - chemotherapy - prescribing patterns - World Health Organization


Publication History

Article published online:
08 June 2021

© 2019. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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