Trajectory and risk factors for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in Asian patients with head and neck cancer.

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the trajectory of and risk factors for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in Asian patients with head and neck cancer.

Methods: Adult patients with head and neck cancer scheduled to receive cisplatin-based chemotherapy were recruited for the study. Clinical events were collated from standardized diaries.

Results: Two hundred thirty-five patients were included in the analyses. The majority (75.7%) was men, Chinese (81.7%), and manifested nasopharyngeal cancer (83.4%). The overall incidence of significant nausea and vomiting was 73.7% and 24.7%, respectively, with single-day cisplatin regimens of 48.9% and 28.9%, respectively, with the multiple-day cisplatin regimen. Patients using complementary alternative medicine were less likely than others to achieve a complete response to antiemetics.

Conclusion: Although postchemotherapy vomiting is relatively well controlled in Asian patients with head and neck cancer, postchemotherapy nausea remains problematic in this population.