Nausea and vomiting remain a significant clinical problem: Trends over time in controlling chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in 1413 patients treated in community clinical practices

Data from 1413 outpatients in community-based clinical practices were colle cted in order to characterize the use and effectiveness of 5-HT3 receptor a ntagonists for control of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting(NV). Pat ients were divided by treatment starting date into six cohorts for trend an alysis. In addition NV symptoms were compared in 252 patients treated prior to the commercial introduction of the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist antiemetic s, and an equal number of patients treated after their introduction. A comp arison of cohorts revealed a significant (P = 0.027) downward trend over ti me for the frequency of post-treatment vomiting episodes, but not for frequ ency of post-treatment nausea (P = 0.69). The average duration of nausea fo llowing treatment increased significantly over time (P = 0.003). Although t he introduction of 5-HT3 receptor antagonist antiemetics has apparently led to a significant reduction in the frequency of post-treatment vomiting; th ere has been an accompanying increase in the duration of post-treatment nau sea. (C) U.S Cancer Pain Relief Committee, 2000.