Korean J Clin Pharm.  2016 Jun;26(2):107-114. 10.0000/kjcp.2016.26.2.107.

An Analysis on Prescribing Patterns of Antidepressants and Their Associated Factors in Lung Cancer Patients

• Sung KE
• Jeong KH
• Kim AR
• Kim EY

• KMID: 2358062
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kjcp.2016.26.2.107

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Depression is the leading cause of lowering the quality of life of cancer patients and lung cancer is the most likely to cause depression. It is necessary to find out depression-related factors in lung cancer patients.
METHODS
The study was a retrospective cohort study using medical records, and was a non-equivalent comparison group design. It involved patients diagnosed of lung cancer at the Konkuk University Medical Center from January to December 2012. Between antidepressants prescription group and non prescription group, socio-demographic factors, clinical factors, treatment-related factors and other factors were analyzed statistically.
RESULTS
Antidepressant prescription group consisted of 23 people and non-prescription group of 206 people. Prescription rate of quetiapine was the highest 47.8% (11/23), followed by escitalopram (43.5%, 10/23), amitryptyline and trazodone (30.4%, 7/23). The prescription group was prescribed with an average of 1.9 antidepressants. Antidepressants were prescribed after average of 248 days from lung cancer diagnosis and prescription period per patient was average 177.5 days. According to the result of univariate logistic regression analysis between 2 groups, factors such as number of outpatient visit, number of admission, days of hospitalization, sleep disorder, and comorbidity were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). However, According multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that number of admission, days of hospitalization and sleep disorder were statistically significant (p < 0.05) excluding comorbidity.
CONCLUSION
About 10% of lung cancer patients had received a prescription for antidepressants after lung cancer diagnosis. A sleep disorder, number of hospitalization and length of stay were identified as factors influencing the prescribing antidepressants.

Keyword

Lung cancer; depression; antidepressants

MeSH Terms

Academic Medical Centers
Antidepressive Agents*
Citalopram
Cohort Studies
Comorbidity
Depression
Diagnosis
Hospitalization
Humans
Length of Stay
Logistic Models
Lung Neoplasms*
Lung*
Medical Records
Outpatients
Prescriptions
Quality of Life
Quetiapine Fumarate
Retrospective Studies
Sleep Wake Disorders
Trazodone
Antidepressive Agents
Citalopram
Quetiapine Fumarate
Trazodone