MASCC/ISOO 2015: Data Show Disconnect Between Clinician and Patient Perceptions of Treatment-Induced Nausea and Vomiting
Researchers from Norgine B.V. presented new data highlighting a perceptual gap between health-care professionals and patients in terms of the incidence and impact on patients’ daily life of chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV/RINV) at the joint Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO) 2015 Annual Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Misperception and Poor Communication
The findings demonstrate that many physicians and oncology nurses overestimate the incidence of CINV/RINV but underestimate the impact of the condition on patients’ daily lives (P < .05). These findings were echoed by 28% of patients who feel oncologists underestimate the impact of CINV/RINV.
The incidence of nausea was shown to be greater than vomiting, with 60% of patients reporting nausea alone, compared to just 4% reporting vomiting and 14% reporting nausea and vomiting. Acceptance of nausea and vomiting as an inevitable consequence of chemotherapy and radiotherapy can prevent patients reporting these events to health-care professionals, in turn preventing their active management.
In addition, just 38% of patients reported full compliance with physician and nurse guidelines when self-administering antiemetic medication, compared with 60% estimated by physicians and nurses. Leading factors given for poor patient compliance included reluctance to add to a pill burden and fear that swallowing itself would induce nausea and/or vomiting.
Nausea and vomiting is estimated to affect 35% to 50% of patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, and previous studies have shown that treatment-induced nausea and vomiting has a significant impact on quality of life in up to 40% of patients.
Donna McVey, Chief Development Officer at Norgine, commented, “The disconnect may lead to suboptimal prescribing, and therefore, inadequate management of CINV/RINV, and so needs to be addressed by health-care professionals to ensure effective treatment. In addition, for some patients, it is important to reduce the pill burden, and the use of orodispersible film delivery systems can improve patient compliance.”
MASCC/ISOO abstracts are available here.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
