Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Background: Drug related problem is an event involving drug therapy that actually or potentiall
y hampers with desired health outcomes. The complex nature of cancer therapy is associated wit
h drug related problems.Understanding the prevalence of drug related problem and the predictive
factors among cancer patients enables early detection and appropriate management of the proble
m to improve patient care.
Aim: To assess the prevalence of drug related problems and associated factors among cancer
patients.
Method: Hospital based observational crossectional study was conducted from April 1
July
15/2021
in
cancer
treatment
centers
North
west
Ethiopia
among
cancer
patients.
Convinenc
e
sampling
procedure
was
used
to
select
the
study
participants.
Data
were
first
entered
in
to
epida
ta
version
4.6
then
transported
to
SPSS
version
25
for
analysis.Bivarte
logistic
regression
analys
was
employed
to
identify
determinants
and
variables
with
p
values
<
0.2
on
bivariate
logistic
reg
ression
model
was
entered
into
a
multivariable
logistic
regression
model
and
variables
with
p
val
ue<0.05
were
considered
as
statistically
significant.
Result:
A
total
of
321
cancer
patients
were
participated
in
the
study.
Among
participants
the
majorty
211(65.7%)
were
females.
A
total
of
615
drug
related
problems
were
identified
in
245(76.3%)
patients
diagnosed
and
treated
with
cancer.
Among
the
drug
related
problems
identi
fied,
adverse
drug
reaction
25.37%,
non
adherence
22.11%,
dose
too
high
18.9%,
dose
too
low
1
5.6%
and
need
additional
drug
therapy
13%
were
the
most
prevalent
DRPs.
Factors
associated
w
ith
occurrence
of
drug
related
problems
included
comorbidities
(AOR=3.460,95%CI
(1.363-8.78
4),
low
and
medium
adherants
(AOR=3.915,CI(1.973-7.767)
and
(AOR=4.294,95%CI=1.915-9.
629)
repectively,source
of
medication
fee
(AOR=2.666,95%CI
(1.275-5.576)
and
polypharmacy
(AOR=2.048,
95%CI
(1.104-3.798)
.
Conclusion:
The
finding
of
this
study
showed
that
the
prevalence
of
drug
related
problems
in
ca
ncer
patients
were
high.
The
presence
of
comorbidity,
polypharmacy,
adherence
and
source
of
m
edication
fee
were
independent
predictors
of
DRPs.
Key
words:
Cancer,
Chemotherapy
,
Drug
related
problem
