Adherence to oral anticancer hormonal therapy in breast cancer patients and its relationship with treatment satisfaction: an important insight from a developing country.

BACKGROUND: Hormone-positive breast cancer is the most common type and represents a burden in all countries. Treatment satisfaction might be a predictor for adherence, as higher satisfaction with medication encourages patients to adhere appropriately to the medication and, consequently, successfully achieve the treatment goals. The present study evaluated the adherence of women with hormone-positive breast cancer to oral hormonal drugs and correlated it with treatment satisfaction and other sociodemographic and clinical factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was applied. This study included two cancer centers. Data were collected from patients through face-to-face interviews and medical record reviews. The Medication Adherence Scale was adapted to assess medication adherence, and the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM) version 1.4 was adopted to measure treatment satisfaction. RESULTS: The final analysis included 106 patients, with a mean age ± SD of 51.9 ± 1.2. Approximately 35% were hospitalized in the past year. Current hormonal therapy among cancer patients included letrozole (38.7%), tamoxifen (31.1%), exemestane (17%), and anastrozole (13.2%). The median adherence score was 5.0 [4.8-6.0], and 62.3% adhered fully to their oral hormonal drugs in the past week. The median scores of effectiveness, side effects, convenience, and global satisfaction were 66.67 [61.11.0-72.22], 75.00 [48.44-100.00], 66.67 [66.67-72.22], and 71.43 [57.14-78.57], respectively. A significantly lower adherence score was identified in patients living in camps (p = 0.020). Patients with comorbidities and those who continued on the same hormonal therapy had higher adherence scores, although they were not statistically significant. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that two domains of treatment satisfaction, side effects (p = 0.013) and global satisfaction (p = 0.018), were predictors of adherence to oral hormonal drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The current study revealed a significant association between treatment satisfaction and adherence to oral hormonal therapy. We recommend creating a specialized scale to measure adherence, considering the psychosocial factors that affect hormonal anticancer medication adherence.

A comprehensive evaluation of potentially significant drug-drug, drug-herb, and drug-food interactions among cancer patients receiving anticancer drugs.

INTRODUCTION: During the cancer treatment path, cancer patients use numerous drugs, including anticancer, supportive, and other prescribed medications, along with herbs and certain products. This puts them at risk of significant drug interactions (DIs). This study describes DIs in cancer patients and their prevalence and predictors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used to achieve the study objectives. The study was carried out in two centers in the northern West Bank, Palestine. The Lexicomp® Drug Interactions tool (Lexi-Comp, Hudson OH, USA) was applied to check the potential DIs. In addition, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to show the results and find the associations. RESULTS: The final analysis included 327 patients. Most of the participants were older than 50 years (61.2%), female (68.5%), and had a solid tumor (74.6%). The total number of potential DIs was 1753, including 1510 drug-drug interactions (DDIs), 24 drug-herb interactions, and 219 drug-food interactions. Importantly, the prevalence of DDIs was 88.1%. In multivariate analysis, the number of potential DDIs significantly decreased with the duration of treatment (p = 0.007), while it increased with the number of comorbidities (p < 0.001) and the number of drugs used (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found a high prevalence of DIs among cancer patients. This required health care providers to develop a comprehensive protocol to monitor and evaluate DIs by improving doctor-pharmacist communication and supporting the role of clinical pharmacists.