Vomiting Despite Adherence to Guidelines: Suboptimal Control of Vomiting
in Pediatric Cancer Patients
Abstract
Objective: Vomiting is a common and distressing acute side
effect of chemotherapy, negatively impacting quality of life,
nutritional status and the ability of patients to tolerate further
treatment. Standardized guidelines have been developed for anti-emetic
regimens to improve control of nausea and vomiting. We aimed to
determine the benefit of adherence to clinical practice guidelines
(CPGs) on complete control of vomiting during chemotherapy in newly
diagnosed pediatric patients with cancer. Methods: An
electronic dashboard of pediatric patients newly diagnosed with cancer
at Phoenix Children’s Hospital between August 2019 and January 2021 and
receiving their first cycle of chemotherapy was utilized to monitor
chemotherapy regimen, anti-emetic medications and vomiting episodes.
Blocks were classified as guideline inconsistent, guideline-consistent,
or guideline-consistent PLUS if additional prophylactic anti-emetic
medications were utilized. We identified patients with complete control
of vomiting, defined as no vomiting and no additional anti-emetics
needed. Results: Among 136 patients, 29% received guideline
inconsistent care, 37% received guideline-consistent care, and 34%
received guideline-consistent PLUS care. 48% achieved complete control
of vomiting. Older patients (p<0.0001) and higher
emetogenicity chemotherapy (p=0.0003) were more likely to receive
guideline-consistent or guideline-consistent PLUS therapy. With
guideline-consistent and consistent-PLUS grouped together, diagnosis
also was associated with improved adherence to CPGs (p=0.022).
Multivariate analysis showed that patients more likely to receive
guideline-consistent care were of older age (OR 1.11, p=0.016) and solid
tumor patients (OR 5.59, p=0.028). Conclusions: Despite high
rates of CPG adherence, complete control of vomiting remains sub-optimal
which highlights the need for novel and/or risk-adapted therapies.