Table 2.

Pharmacist interventions for cancer patients who used opioids

		n	(%)
Number of opioid-using cancer patients
	Median	10
	[Range]	[1–300]
Percentage of opioid-using cancer patients prescribed six or more regular medications
	Zero	26	(7.2)
	1 to 39%	77	(21.4)
	40 to 69%	147	(40.9)
	70 to 99%	80	(22.3)
	100%	22	(6.1)
	No response	7	(1.9)
Percentage of inappropriate prescriptions in opioid-using cancer patients prescribed six or more regular medications
	Zero	88	(24.5)
	1 to 39%	231	(64.3)
	40 to 69%	29	(8.1)
	70 to 99%	2	(0.6)
	100%	0	(0)
Reasons for inappropriate prescriptions (multiple answers from options)
	Long-term administration of irresponsible or aimless medications	229	(63.8)
	Adverse drug reactions caused by medications	86	(24.0)
	Medications-mediated duplication of the pharmacological effect	78	(21.7)
	Medication-induced drug-drug interactions	46	(12.8)
	Other	24	(6.7)
Percentage of patients on polypharmacy with drug reduction due to pharmacist recommendations
	Zero	87	(24.2)
	1 to 39%	168	(46.8)
	40 to 69%	43	(12.0)
	70 to 99%	18	(5.0)
	100%	23	(6.4)
	No response	20	(5.6)
Reasons for pharmacist recommendations to reduce medications (multiple answers from options)
	Long-term administration of irresponsible or aimless medications	211	(58.8)
	Adverse drug reactions caused by medications	138	(38.4)
	Change from oral to other dosage form due to oral feeding difficulty	126	(35.1)
	Medications-mediated duplication of the pharmacological effect	89	(24.8)
	Medication-induced drug-drug interactions	57	(15.9)
	Other	18	(5.0)
Average number of medications reduced by pharmacist recommendations
	0	55	(15.3)
	1	154	(42.9)
	2	81	(22.6)
	3	18	(5.0)
	4	1	(0.3)
	More than 4	4	(1.1)