Appropriate use of medication among home care adult cancer patients at end of life: a retrospective observational study

BACKGROUND: Medications are commonly used for symptom control in cancer patients at the end of life.

This study aimed to evaluate medication utilization among home care palliative patients with cancer at the end of life and assess the appropriateness of these medications.

METHOD: This retrospective observational study included adult cancer patients who received home care in 2020.

Medications taken during the last month of the patient’s life were reviewed and classified into three major categories: potentially avoidable, defined as medications that usually have no place at the end of life because the time to benefit is shorter than life expectancy; medications of uncertain appropriateness, defined as medications that need case-by-case evaluation because they could have a role at the end of life; and potentially appropriate, defined as medications that provide symptomatic relief.

RESULTS: In our study, we enrolled 353 patients, and 2707 medications were analyzed for appropriateness.

Among those, 1712 (63.2%) were classified as potentially appropriate, 755 (27.9%) as potentially avoidable, and 240 (8.9%) as medications with uncertain appropriateness.

The most common potentially avoidable medications were medications for peptic ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease (30.5%), vitamins (14.6%), beta-blockers (9.8%), anticoagulants (7.9%), oral antidiabetics (5.4%) and insulin products (5.3%).

Among the potentially appropriate medications, opioid analgesics were the most frequently utilized medications (19.5%), followed by laxatives (19%), nonopioid analgesics (14.4%), gamma-aminobutyric acid analog analgesics (7.7%) and systemic corticosteroids (6%).

CONCLUSION: In home care cancer patients, approximately one-third of prescribed medications were considered potentially avoidable.

Future measures to optimize medication use in this patient population are essential.