Drug-related problems among pediatric patients with cancer admitted to the pediatric haemato-oncology department: A prospective observational study

Abstract

Background: Pediatric patients undergoing chemotherapy often need to take multiple medications. Consequently, they may experience drug-related problems (DRPs), including adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, and various medication errors. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted over three months in the Pediatric Haemato-oncology department of a cancer specialty hospital of Nepal following ethical approval. DRPs were identified from patient medical records and the literature and, recorded according to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe V9.1 tool. Data were collected and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics V20 and Microsoft Excel 2013 to present the findings. Results: Among the 30 enrolled patients, 211 DRPs were identified in 28 patients (93.3%), averaging 7.5 DRPs per patient, all validated through case-by-case review. Treatment safety was the predominant DRP type (n = 131; 62.09%), followed by treatment ineffectiveness (n = 79; 37.44%). Drug selection (n = 116; 51.76%) and dispensing issues (n = 51; 22.77%) were the leading causes, with anti-infective drugs (n = 41; 35%) and antineoplastic agents (n = 24; 20.5%) most frequently implicated. Conclusion: DRPs were prevalent among pediatric patients with cancer, with treatment safety being the most significant issue and drug selection being the primary cause. Anti-infective drugs were most frequently involved in DRPs, followed by antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents.