An assessment of the prevalence of drug therapy problems and its associated factors among ovarian cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Introduction

Despite several studies in various cancers reporting a high prevalence of drug therapy problems (DTPs), there is a notable scarcity of comprehensive data addressing DTPs among patients with an ovarian cancer diagnosis. This study aimed to assess DTPs among those patients at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was used to assess the prevalence of DTPs among all 100 eligible patients with an ovarian cancer diagnosis. This research used a data abstraction tool to gather ovarian patients’ data on drug therapy problems. The statistical package for Social Science version 20.0 software was used for data entry and analysis. The findings were presented using frequency tables, percentages and figures.

Results

The mean age of the study population was 51.2 ± 15.1 with a bigger population being above 50 years (57.0%). The prevalent histological type of ovarian cancer was epithelial ovarian cancer (79.0%) followed by sex cord-stromal ovarian cancer (13%) and germ cell ovarian cancer (8%) which was least prevalent. A total of 175 DTPs were identified with the most prevalent being adverse drug reactions (40.6%) and drug non-adherence (17.1%). The number of medications used and stage of ovarian cancer as statistically significant predictors of DTP.

Conclusion

The prevalence of DTPs was high and the most prevalent DTP was adverse drug reactions. The number of medications used and the stage of ovarian cancer were statistically significant predictors of DTP. Hence, regular medication reviews and robust pharmacovigilance systems should be implemented to detect and manage DTPs effectively.