A prospective observational study of chemotherapy-induced adverse drug reaction and the quality of life in cancer patients in a tertiary care hospital

• Published in: Journal of cancer research and therapeutics Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 530 - 536
• Main Authors: Krishnarajan, D, Sivasakthi, K, Ariyamol, R, Kumar, D, Varghese, Soniya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.04.2021; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adverse and side effects; Age Factors; Aged; Antineoplastic Agents - adverse effects; Cancer; Cancer patients; Causality; Chemotherapy; Complications and side effects; Drug therapy; Drugs; Female; Health aspects; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nausea - chemically induced; Nausea - epidemiology; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Observational studies; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Sex Factors; Tertiary Care Centers - statistics & numerical data; Vomiting - chemically induced; Vomiting - epidemiology; Young Adult; India; cancer; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General; quality of life; chemotherapy; Naranjo scale; ADR
• ISSN: 0973-1482; 1998-4138
• DOI: 10.4103/jcrt.JCRT_1015_19

Aim: The aim was to study the pattern of adverse drug reaction (ADR) provoked by anticancer therapy and to assess the quality of life (QoL) in cancer patients. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Tamil Nadu on 75 patients from February to July 2019 taking into account their demographic profile, ADR occurrence and its causality, outcome, organ system-wise distribution of ADRs, and others. The causality assessment was done by using Naranjo's scale and QoL was assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) scale. The QoL was compared in any two consecutive cycles between the 2nd and 5th cycles of chemotherapy. Results: Out of the 75 patients, 17 male and 56 female patients developed ADR. A total of 228 ADRs were observed in 73 patients. The most commonly occurred ADR was nausea and vomiting (45%) and the most commonly affected system was gastrointestinal tract (37%). According to causality assessment, the ADR that occurred falls mostly in the category of probable (66.7%) followed by possible (29.3%) and the outcome of the ADR was mostly recovering (49.3%). The QoL was higher in females and in the age group of 40-49 years. The physical and emotional well-being of the patient were affected more. The overall QoL was improved in the 2nd visit when compared to the 1st visit. Conclusion: Cancer is known to cause a significant impact on the health and socioeconomics of a nation. To boost the QoL in patients, it is essential to identify and manage the ADRs by taking appropriate measures to promote judicious use of drugs.