Anticipatory Nausea among Ambulatory Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy: Associated with Beginning-of-using before and after the New Antiemetic Drugs

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of using the neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist and 5-hydroxytryptamine-3 serotonin (5-HT₃) receptor antagonists of the second generation on the rate of incidence of anticipatory nausea (AN) and patients' factors among ambulatory cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
Randomly selected patients who received high emetic chemotherapy or moderate emetic chemotherapy were asked to complete the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and Emesis scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 questionnaire. The evaluations were conducted twice (beginning-of-using before and after the new antiemetic drugs [neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist and 5-HT₃ receptor antagonist of the third generation]). Complete data were available for 267 subjects (119 before using new antiemetic drugs; 148 after using new antiemetic drugs). A total of 15.1% vs 6.8% of the patients experienced AN before and after using new antiemetic drugs (P < 0.05). After using new antiemetic drugs, patients' global quality of life score was significantly improved.
The findings suggest that the rate of incidence of AN in ambulatory cancer patients who receive chemotherapy was reduced by using new antiemetic drugs.