DOI: 10.21276/sajp

Pages: 158-167

Globally, cancer constitutes a major cause of morbidity and mortality with increasing incidence and prevalence. Drug utilization studies promote rational use of drugs. This retrospective, observational and descriptive study assessed the prescribing pattern of anticancer medications in a tertiary care hospital in South-South Nigeria. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the hospital ethics committee before data collection. The hospital medical records of January 2005 to December 2014, of 782 adult cancer patients aged 18years and above were consecutively selected. Altogether, 30 types of cancer were observed. The results also indicated that cancer was more common in females 456 (58.3%) than in males 326 (41.7%). Overall, patients between 61 and 70years were affected more by cancer, while breast cancer affected more patients between 41 to 50years. Overall 33 anticancer drugs were prescribed at a frequency of 1548(100.0%). Anticancer drugs were commonly prescribed in combination. Overall, Cyclophosphamide + Epirubicin + 5FU was the most frequently prescribed combination regimen 99 (38.1%) for breast cancer patients, while overall, Flutamide was the most frequently prescribed single agent regimen 154(76.2%) for patients with prostate cancer. Moreover, the most commonly prescribed anticancer drug was cyclophosphamide 214 (13.82%). This study has thus provided information on the prescribing pattern of anticancer medications at a tertiary health facility in South-South Nigeria, and has indicated the need for periodic prescription audit and review in order to promote rational drug prescribing.