Prescribing practices for tumour aggressiveness and castration resistance in risk-stratified prostate cancer patients

Abstract

Capturing real-world prescription data is important for evaluating clinical practice in prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate prescribing practices in prostate cancer. This was a cross-sectional study in which four groups were identified based on tumour aggressiveness (bone metastasis absent and bone metastasis presnt) and castration response (castration-sensitive prostate cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer). Drug utilisation methodology and core indicators of World Health Organization were used. A total of 150 patients were stratified into the four groups. The most common regime was complete androgen blockade in both bone metastasis groups and castration-sensitive prostate cancer. Palliative radiotherapy was part of the management in the bone metastasis (present) group. In castration-resistant prostate cancer, abiraterone, fosfestrol, docetaxel, and enzalutamide were prescribed. Approximately 78% of prescriptions contained medicines from the National List of Essential Medicines, India, 2015. Polypharmacy was not a common practice, antibiotics and antidepressant medicines were rarely prescribed. The prescribing trend for prostate cancer conformed to National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines.