Impact of Chemotherapy Stock-Out on Standard Therapy Delivery Among Cancer Patients in Botswana

Background: Cancer drug shortages represent a complex global issue with potentially adverse survival outcomes. Up to 98% of oncologists and pharmacists surveyed in North America reported at least 1 drug shortage in the prior year and 66% reported at least one patient who had clinical care impacted by the shortage. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), these shortages are even more frequent. No studies to our knowledge have evaluated the impact of chemotherapy stock-out on receipt of standard cancer therapy in LMICs. Aim: Quantify the association between the duration of chemotherapy stock-out and the risk of having a suboptimal therapy delivery event, compared with standard delivery of therapy among cancer patients in Botswana. Methods: Prevalent cohort study of patients with cervical, breast, prostate, esophagus, Kaposi sarcoma, head and neck cancers, lung, uterine, ovarian and colorectal cancers who received any systemic therapy between 01/01/16-12/31/16 at Princess Marina Hospital, Botswana. Primary exposure was stock-out duration per cycle interval calculated by generating a code for the six different patterns for chemotherapy stock-out, using stock data at the Central Medical Stores. Primary outcome was suboptimal therapy delivery defined as a dose reduction, dose delay or switch in intended therapy. We measured statistical associations using two sample t-test and mixed effects univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Results: 378 patients were identified who met diagnostic criteria and received systemic chemotherapy in 2016. Of these, 293 received commonly prescribed standard regimens who contributed 1452 cycle intervals and were included in our analysis. Majority of the patients (48%) had breast cancer. The mean duration of stock-out for receipt of standard therapy without events was 3.2 days (95% CI: 2.8-3.7) compared with 7.8 days for patients who had a suboptimal therapy delivery event (95% CI: 6.6-9) ( P < 0.0001). Male sex, age < 65 and HIV-positive status were also significantly associated with an increased risk of experiencing dose reduction, change in therapy or switch in therapy. Adjusting for these factors in a mixed effects logistic regression, each week of stock-out was independently associated with an 80% increased risk of having a suboptimal therapy delivery event (OR=1.8 (95% CI: 1.6-2.0, P < 0.0001)). Conclusion: Chemotherapy stock-out is independently associated with an 80% increased risk of a patient experiencing dose reduction, change in therapy or delay in therapy. The risk increases with longer duration of stock out. Given prior data showing that these events lead to worse survival outcomes, our further analysis is focusing on quantifying risk of stock-out on survival outcomes in this population. to determine whether interventions promoting standard therapy delivery are warranted to optimize survival outcomes.

First Things First: Adopting a Holistic, Needs-Driven Approach to Improving the Quality of Routinely Collected Data

Background and context: Routine collection of quality oncology data remains underprioritized in resource limited settings. For breast cancer (BC) care at Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) in Botswana, this hampers its use for oncology program evaluation and clinical research. The Peo Data Acquisition Core (DAC), part of a consortium for planning of a noncommunicable diseases center for research excellence in Southern Africa, engaged relevant stakeholders and departments at PMH to establish health care worker driven processes that support sustained improvements in the quality of routinely collected breast cancer data. Aim: Assess PMH BC care needs to support the improvement of routinely collected data. Strategy/Tactics: Conventional routine data quality assessments guide iterative identification of data quality gaps for improvement, but tend to consume additional human resources to implement and prioritize data quality over existing provider concerns. We undertook a holistic approach to identifying needs challenging the improvement of data routinely collected about PMH BC patients. Program/Policy process: A need assessment began with mapping of patient care process, capturing process steps, including subprocesses, actors, and an inventory of related data capture systems. The assessment also gathered care providers' perceptions of challenges to providing care as well as perceptions of the up-time of an existing electronic health record (EHR). Outcomes: BC patient management involves multiple care providers who attend to patients in different locations within the hospital. Except for EHR captured laboratory data, nearly all other documentation of patient care occurred through paper-based registers, diaries and general clinical forms. Providers indicated the overbooking of patient appointments and use of different formats to manage patient data as key challenges for them. EHR appointment scheduling components appear underutilized by providers, and a brief monitoring of provider perceptions of the EHR's speed and reliability suggests it is poorest in the mornings - at a time when providers are the busiest attending to patients. What was learned: Needs assessment findings suggest several opportunities to respond to provider recognized challenges through greater adoption of EHR usage. Establishment of a Quality Improvement (QI) group that champions improvements in routine BC data quality should integrate standardization of patient data formats and EHR centralized appointment booking. QI group composition should include both care providers and an EHR IT technician.

Education, Training and Ongoing Updating for High-Quality Cancer Care: Programs and Technology for Tumor Boards and Case Discussions

Background: The rapid advance in new knowledge of cancer etiology, creation of treatment guidelines, new technologies and medicines into routine practice and the need to understand cost and efficacy that underlie policy are daunting. Remaining current must be accomplished on top of increasingly busy clinical care requirements and patient numbers requires novel solutions. Education and training opportunities are available from professional societies, cancer programs, paid courses and written reviews, though person-to-person mentorship and expert opinion are vital to navigate the vast amount of information. Aim: To provide experience-based insight into addressing the challenge for professionals to maintain one's expertise in cancer care in countries at all income levels. Methods: The International Cancer Expert Corps and partner organizations are establishing a global and multisectoral network that builds human capacity and capability to establish sustainable cancer programs that function at world-class standards ( www.iceccancer.org ). The model utilizes in-person, in-country visits along with ongoing connectivity through telemedicine video conferences. The pioneering education Chartrounds program ( www.chartrounds.com ) is an example of initiative taken by those “in the field” which began in the U.S. and has recently expanded to include separate Web sites for India, Africa, and Latin America. Results: Chartrounds.com, a free Web-based conferencing platform providing disease-site based educational peer review sessions, exemplifies how global expertise can be shared, altruistic education is willingly provided by world-renowned experts and a method of providing practice changing education is possible while the responsibility for the decision-making and treatment implementation remain with the individual treatment center. Weekly experience by Chartrounds and ICEC is defining the complexity of telecommunications, especially problematic with low capacity bandwidth that tests the capacity for effective teleconferences requiring high-quality voice and image data. Conclusion: The enormous body of knowledge needed by cancer practitioners to provide state-of-the-art cancer care requires creative solutions for education, mentorship and telecommunications. That major research institutions such as the National Cancer Institute has invested in developing TELESYNERGY enhances the quality of cancer care and research that are necessary at the global level. Newer platforms are rapidly emerging and artificial intelligence and machine learning will soon assist with education and quality assurance tasks. For UICC members, recognizing present and emerging solutions is critical to best invest in resources and necessary personnel skill-sets to “leapfrog” into the newer enabling technology and approaches to help bring the best possible cancer care into resource-limited environments. The content is the personal opinion of the authors and not their organizations.

Workforce Capacity and Capability Building Through Metrics-Based Mentoring Partnerships

Background: Globally, cancer is the second leading cause of death. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) especially lack the sufficient healthcare and oncology workforces needed to screen, diagnose and treat individuals with cancer. While traditional academic and training programs designed to produce healthcare professionals in these countries fill a critical role, few programs exist that maintain, develop, and increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance of current healthcare and oncology workforces. Mentoring partnerships and twinning programs can provide ongoing education and training that strengthen and build workforce capacity and capability for the full scope of cancer care. Aim: The goal is to achieve resource-appropriate multimodality cancer-care using guideline- and protocol-based education and training and also to develop the capability to conduct world quality research. The model utilizes in-person, in-country site visits lasting from several weeks to months and ongoing connectivity through weekly telemedicine video conferences. Methods: The International Cancer Expert Corps (ICEC) and partner organizations are establishing a network of global and multisectoral partnerships that builds human capacity and capability needed to establish sustainable cancer programs that function at world-class standards. The three-fold mentor-mentee approach ( www.iceccancer.org ) is built by 1) enlisting hubs of expertise to include academic medical centers/universities, private practices and an ICEC Central Hub, 2) enrolling the breadth of expert-mentors needed from a university, practice, professional society and interested individuals, and 3) identifying centers in LMICs - clinics/hospitals/and other care delivery sites in underserved areas, and associates - physicians/allied healthcare workers- seeking mentoring and education. Results: Recent implementation of the ICEC 5-Step Progression Plan provides guidance and serves as an assessment tool for measuring progress between the hubs-centers programs and expert-associate. Twinning programs (hubs-ICEC centers) have been established in multiple sites worldwide including in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Conclusion: Implementation of the ICEC 5-Step Progression Plan provides a platform from which to track the current stages and progress of twinning mentor-mentee programs, and to evaluate new programs. This information guides the programs and also provides metric-based investment in global health. Critically as the skills in associates and ICEC centers grows, they achieve expert-mentor status and centers become hubs to serve the surrounding regions, thereby enabling geometric growth in cancer care to meet the needs of the growing global burden of cancer. The content is the personal opinion of the authors and not their organizations.

Knowledge and Screening Practices of Breast and Cervical Cancer in Rural and Urban South Africa

Background: The South African government has recently released cancer policies for breast and cervical cancer—the most common types and causes of cancer-related death in South African women. Increased mortality rates and advanced disease at presentation in comparison with developed countries suggests a need for greater awareness of risk factors, screening and preventative methods individualized for the population at risk. Aim: To characterize and compare the knowledge base and perceptions of women in urban and rural settings, we assessed these factors in two different cohorts in South Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional sample was taken in South Africa of women invited to participate in a survey regarding breast and cervical cancer knowledge, and awareness of risk factors, prevention and screening. Participants were approached in shopping malls and health facilities in urban Johannesburg in 2015 (“urban”) and semirural Bushbuckridge, 450 km northeast of Johannesburg (“rural”) in 2016. Results: 600 total women were surveyed, with 300 from each cohort. 83% of the urban cohort completed matriculation or higher, versus 60% of rural participants for whom high school was their highest level of education. Both groups demonstrated comparable levels of cancer awareness, and > 70% felt that cervical cancer is preventable. While the urban cohort was more knowledgeable about Pap smears (76% vs. 66%, P = 0.004), > 75% of both cohorts were willing to get one. Although both groups were largely unfamiliar with the role of HPV in cervical cancer, rural women were more aware of HIV (38% vs. 59%, P < 0.0001), smoking (43% vs. 62%, P < 0.0001) and parity (39% vs. 54%, P = 0.00019) as risk factors. Nevertheless, urban participants were more knowledgeable about breast self exams (71% vs. 59%, P = 0.001) and mammograms (62% vs. 42%, P < 0.0001), and more likely to undergo one (79% vs. 66%, P = 0.0002). Both groups identified family history and genetics as risk factors, but rural women appeared more aware of the roles of diet (30.67% vs. 39.93%, P = .011), oral contraceptives (17.33% vs. 34.77%, P < .0001), alcohol (26.67% vs. 52.15%, P < .0001) and lack of exercise (8.67% vs. 55.12%, P < .0001). Conclusion: Overall knowledge of breast and cervical cancer did not differ between both groups, despite varying levels of education and geographic setting. Women in the rural cohort demonstrated more awareness of several oncologic risk factors. Yet, the greater familiarity with and uptake of screening methods, especially for breast cancer, among women in the urban cohort may point to the benefits of proximity to health care infrastructure, such as tertiary care centers. This data supports a need for further implementation and distribution of cancer care services within cancer policies, to capitalize on increasingly sufficient levels of awareness among South African women.

A Limited Time to Act: Cervical Cancer Stage Progression Prior to Treatment

Background: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women in sub-Saharan Africa where access to timely diagnosis and treatment remains a major challenge. Several investigators have documented the adverse impact of delays during curative chemoradiation on survival: 2%-5% decreased survival per week delay. However, the clinical impact of delays in initiating treatment has not previously been estimated and is key to direct allocation of resources and patient care. Aim: To estimate the duration treatment initiation delay leading to a one-stage progression in cervical cancer. Methods: Radiation is available in Botswana from a single linear accelerator and services are provided free of cost to Botswana citizens. Two prolonged service interruptions (late 2014 due to mechanical failure/upgrades, and late 2015 for machine replacement) contributed to substantial additional delays in accessing treatment of several months after service resumed. Using these natural experiments and the prospectively enrolling Thabatse Cancer Cohort (included cases enrolled from September 2014 to January 2018), we used instrumental variable methods to estimate the mean number of weeks to progress one stage (e.g., IIIA to IVA). Our instrument was a binary variable indicating treatment initiation occurred during service interruption. We used inverse probability weighting to adjust for possible bias in exposure to the instrument by HIV status, age, and income. Cancer stage was considered ordinal and we used Poisson regression to calculate weeks for stage progression. We calculated confidence limits using bootstrapping from 500 samples. Analyses were performed in SAS 9.4. Results: A total of 301 cervical cancer cases were included with 138 (46%) exposed to service disruption and 163 (54%) not exposed. The majority, 217 (72%), were HIV-infected with 86% on ART prior to cancer diagnosis. At time of treatment, 27 (9%) stage I, 108 (36%) stage II, 113 (38%) stage III, and 53 (18%) stage IV. Median time from diagnosis to initiation of treatment of all patients was 9.7 weeks (IQR 6.3-13.7), and was longer in those exposed to service disruption (11.0 weeks [IQR 7.7-15.1]) than those not exposed (8.0 weeks [IQR 5.3-11.7]. Time for progression of one cancer stage was 8.9 weeks (95% CI 4.6-15.8). Among HIV-infected women, estimated time for one-stage progression was 6.5 weeks (95% CI 2.3-12.3), significantly faster than HIV-uninfected women ( P < 0.001). The small number of HIV-uninfected women prevented separate estimation. Conclusion: Stage progression is rapid in locally advanced cervical cancer with typical treatment delays of two months associated with a full stage increase. These estimates may not generalize to contexts with lower HIV prevalence; however add urgency to effort to improve efficient access to treatment and avoidance of waiting lists.

Positive Aspects of Caregiving and Its Correlates among Caregivers of Bipolar Affective Disorder

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the positive aspects of caregiving and its correlates (socio-demographic and clinical variables, caregiver burden, coping, quality of life, psychological morbidity) in the primary caregivers of patients with bipolar affective disorder (BPAD).

METHODS

A total of 60 primary caregivers of patients with a diagnosis of BPAD were evaluated on the Scale for Positive Aspects of Caregiving Experience (SPACE) and the Hindi version of Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire, Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS), modified Hindi version of Coping Checklist, shorter Hindi version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), and Hindi translated version of 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12).

RESULTS

Caregivers of patients with BPAD had the highest mean score in the SPACE domain of Motivation for caregiving role (2.45), followed by Caregiver satisfaction (2.38) and Caregiving personal gains (2.20). The mean score was the lowest for the domain of Self-esteem and social aspect of caring (2.01). In terms of correlations, age of onset of BPAD had a negative correlation with various domains of SPACE. The mean number of total lifetime affective and depressive episodes correlated positively with Self-esteem and social aspect of caring. Caregiver satisfaction correlated negatively with FBIS domains of Disruption of routine family activities, Effect on mental health of others, and subjective burden. Coercion as a coping mechanism correlated positively with domains of Caregiving personal gains, Caregiver satisfaction, and the total score on SPACE. Three (Physical health, Psychological health, Environment) out of 5 domains of the WHOQOL-BREF correlated positively with the total SPACE score. No association was noted between GHQ-12 and SPACE scores.

CONCLUSION

Positive caregiving experience in primary caregivers of patients with BPAD is associated with better quality of life of the caregivers.