MS 20171377 / Smitherman et al - Increased prescription drug use immediately after childhood cancer

Abstract

The Childhood Cancer Survivorship Study (https://ccss.stjude.org/) has documented the many long-term effects of childhood cancer and therapy among a cohort of survivors treated multiple years earlier. Do these chronic medical morbidities arise early in the post-therapy period and what is the extent of prescription drug use starting in the first year off therapy? Smitherman et al report in this volume of The Journal an historical cohort study, using MarketScan commercial data base claims, to identify children who had leukemia, lymphoma, central nervous system tumors, bone cancers, or gonadal cancers, completed therapy from 2000 to 2011, and then had 3 years of follow up. Throughout the study period, survivors were at significantly higher risk for filling prescriptions for opioids, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. These findings suggest the emergence of chronic medical morbidities very early in post-therapy period. Furthermore, even though prior studies have shown increased use of drugs among survivors of childhood cancer, this study shows high rates of physical and psychological morbidity immediately after treatment in a cohort of patients treated in a very recent epoch. The heightened used of anxiolytics and opioids is striking and might even hint at overuse or over-prescription. Further understanding of these drug prescription patterns is warranted. Article page 161 ▶ Early Post-Therapy Prescription Drug Usage among Childhood and Adolescent Cancer SurvivorsThe Journal of PediatricsVol. 195PreviewTo describe the patterns of prescription drug use among child and adolescent survivors of cancer in the early post-therapy period compared with matched peers without a cancer history. Full-Text PDF