Al Lawati Abdullah, Al Wahaibi Nasser, Al Suleimani Yousuf
College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, OMN.
Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacy, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, OMN.
Cureus. 2023 Jul 7;15(7):e41501. doi: 10.7759/cureus.41501. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Objectives Analgesic drugs are commonly used to alleviate the pain experienced by palliative care (PC) patients. Thus, we sought to determine the prescription patterns of analgesic drugs in the management of pain among haematology and oncology palliative care patients at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) and then see if they were following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Methods A retrospective observational cross-sectional study was conducted, and adult PC patients prescribed analgesics for pain relief between January 2018 and January 2021 at SQUH constituted the sample. Data were collected from patients' electronic medical records using the SQUH TrakCare system. The data was then presented descriptively using graphs and tables. Results Data from 200 PC patients were analyzed. Breast cancer was the most common malignancy, with 73 (36.5%) patients diagnosed with it. Severe pain was the most reported degree of pain, with exactly 100 (50.0%) patients experiencing it. More patients experienced mild pain than moderate pain. Opioids were the most prescribed analgesics, followed by analgesics and antipyretics, anticonvulsants, and finally non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Paracetamol was the most prescribed analgesic for pain overall, with 127 (63.5%) patients utilizing it. For severe pain, morphine was the most prescribed analgesic, with 65.0% of patients using it. Fentanyl and pregabalin, the strongest two analgesics, increased in prescription for severe pain compared to mild and moderate pain, with both being prescribed to 23.0% of patients suffering from severe pain. The oral route of administration was the most prescribed, with 128 (64.0%) utilizing it. Conclusion This study showed the prescription patterns of analgesic drugs for palliative care patients at SQUH. The findings were similar to those of other studies, though there were some differences. The prescription patterns of analgesic drugs prescribed for the various pain levels among PC patients were found to be in accordance with the WHO guidelines.
目的 镇痛药常用于缓解姑息治疗（PC）患者所经历的疼痛。因此，我们试图确定苏丹卡布斯大学医院（SQUH）血液学和肿瘤学姑息治疗患者疼痛管理中镇痛药的处方模式，然后看看他们是否遵循世界卫生组织（WHO）的指南。方法 进行了一项回顾性观察性横断面研究，2018年1月至2021年1月在SQUH因疼痛而开具镇痛药的成年PC患者构成样本。使用SQUH TrakCare系统从患者的电子病历中收集数据。然后用图表对数据进行描述性呈现。结果 分析了200例PC患者的数据。乳腺癌是最常见的恶性肿瘤，有73例（36.5%）患者被诊断为此病。重度疼痛是报告最多的疼痛程度，恰好有100例（50.0%）患者经历过。经历轻度疼痛的患者比中度疼痛的患者更多。阿片类药物是处方最多的镇痛药，其次是镇痛药和解热药、抗惊厥药，最后是非甾体抗炎药（NSAIDs）。对乙酰氨基酚是总体上处方最多的镇痛药，有127例（63.5%）患者使用。对于重度疼痛，吗啡是处方最多的镇痛药，65.0%的患者使用。芬太尼和普瑞巴林这两种最强效的镇痛药，与轻度和中度疼痛相比，重度疼痛的处方量有所增加，两者均被开给23.0%的重度疼痛患者。口服给药途径是处方最多的，有128例（64.0%）患者使用。结论 本研究显示了SQUH姑息治疗患者镇痛药的处方模式。研究结果与其他研究相似，不过也存在一些差异。PC患者不同疼痛程度所开镇痛药的处方模式被发现符合WHO指南。
