Prescription Pattern of Analgesics and Adjuvant Drugs in Cancer Patients Attending Outpatient Department of Radiotherapy in a Tertiary Level Hospital.

Abstract

To assess the pattern of analgesics used for pain among the cancer patients attending outpatient department in a tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh. During the one year study period between July 2018 and June 2019, a cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics with the collaboration of Department of Radiotherapy, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh. A total of 323 patients were selected. Data were collected by interviewing the patients and their prescription. After completion of data collection, data analysis was done using SPSS version 24.0. Out of 323 patients, Step 1 analgesics (Paracetamol or other NSAIDs) were prescribed to 61.9% patients; 21.4% and 7.1% patients were treated with Step 2 (Tramadol) and Step 3 (Morphine) analgesics. Step 1 and 2 combined analgesics were prescribed to 9.6% patients. Among the adjuvant drugs, 22.9% prescribed drugs were antidepressants, corticosteroids (16.7%), anticonvulsants (14.9%), antispasmodics (9.6%), antianxiety (3.7%) and antipsychotics (2.2%). This study showed that using of WHO analgesic (pain relief) ladder; it is capable of controlling pain in more than 90.0% of patients.