Trial reportSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2022
A randomised controlled trial of clinical pharmacy intervention versus standard care to improve medication adherence in outpatients with head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy.
Trial report in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of healthcare professional-delivered health literacy interventions on patient reported outcomes in cancer patients - a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of Chemotherapy Patient Education Using the Teach-Back Method on Symptom Management and Quality of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2025Trial
- The Effect of Two Different Pharmacist-led Educations Provided to Patients with Colorectal Cancer Receiving an Oral Antineoplastic Agent: A Comparative Interventional Study.Journal of research in pharmacy practice · 2026Article
- Increasing Trends of Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Lung Cancer Patients in China: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Impact of the expert consensus on polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medication use in elderly lung cancer outpatients with multimorbidity: An interrupted time series analysis, 2016-2021.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- A Study of Self-Care Practice in Routine Radiotherapy Care: Identifying Differences Between Practitioners and Non-Practitioners in Sociodemographic, Clinical, Functional, and Quality-of-Life-Related Characteristics.Integrative cancer therapiesArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePatient understanding of medicines information and adherence to medication instructions are important variables for ensuring optimal cancer care. This randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed to evaluate the impact of an outpatient clinical pharmacy service on medication adherence and symptom burden in cancer patients.
methodsIn this single-centre RCT, 115 patients were randomised 1:1 to a pharmacist-led pharmaceutical care program (intervention, n = 59) versus standard of care (control, n = 56) within an outpatient multidisciplinary radiotherapy clinic. The primary endpoint was medication adherence as assessed by Medication Understanding and Use Self-Efficacy (MUSE) scale and Teach-Back assessment. Secondary endpoints were patient-reported symptom burden assessed by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). Patients were assessed at baseline (weeks 1-2) and at discharge from radiotherapy (weeks 5-7).
resultsPolypharmacy (use of five or more medications) was observed in 26% of patients at baseline compared to 97% at discharge. Patient self-efficacy and medication adherence was higher in the intervention arm compared to the control arm, with a mean MUSE score difference of 2.70 (95% CI 1.24, 4.17) after adjustment for baseline, and a higher proportion of patients with average Teach-Back score of four or more (86% vs 14%; odds ratio (OR) 46.09, 95% CI 14.49, 146.56). The mean (SD) scores for aggregate ESAS (0-100) at discharge were 26.2 (14.0) in the intervention arm and 32.0 (15.8) in the control arm demonstrating lower overall symptom burden associated with the intervention (mean score difference adjusted for baseline - 0.52; 95% CI - 1.03, - 0.01).
conclusionA structured outpatient clinic pharmacy service significantly improved medication adherence and reduced overall symptom burden in patients receiving radiotherapy.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.