Abstract:

Background: Cancer chemotherapy is the treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Chemotherapy causes severe adverse effects due to its lack of selective toxicity (cytotoxic effect) and narrow therapeutic index, thereby causing severe adverse events in patients. The objective was to assess self-reported adverse drug reactions in children with cancer who are receiving cancer chemotherapy.
Methodology: The study was conducted at the Bugando Medical Centre (BMC). This study was conducted for one month, from 12th April to 15th May 2023. The study design was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included all paediatric cancer patients who had taken at least one chemotherapy treatment and their primary care takers. The significant association was checked at p value < 0.05.

Results: A total of 120, (67 male and 53 female) paediatric cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were recruited in this study. A total of 43 ADRs were reported. A mean of 5ADRs/patient was observed in this study. The most common ADRs were gastrointestinal effects (taste changes 89 (74.2%), vomiting 53 (44.2%), loss of appetite 47 (39.2%), nausea 42 (35%)) and cutaneous effects such as Alopecia 99 (82.5%), itchy red bumps 41 (34.2%), dry skin 16 (13.3%). Doxorubicin based regimen was significantly associated with occurrence of ADRs (p=0.003). The severity of self-reported chemotherapy adverse reaction ranged from grade1 to grade 3.

Conclusion: all the recruited paediatric cancer patients developed ADRs which differ in type and severity.