Incidence and predictors of anticipatory nausea and vomiting in Asia Pacific clinical practice—a longitudinal analysis

Purpose Some patients experience nausea and/or vomiting (NV) before receipt of chemotherapy. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of prior chemotherapy-induced NV (CINV) on the incidence of anticipatory NV in later cycles. Methods This multicenter, prospective non-interventional study enrolled chemotherapy-naïve adults scheduled to receive highly or moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC/MEC) for cancer in six Asia Pacific countries, excluding those with emesis within 24 h before cycle 1 chemotherapy. On day 1 before chemotherapy, patients answered four questions regarding emesis in the past 24 h, nausea, expectation of post-chemotherapy nausea, and anxiety in the past 24 h, the latter three scored from 0–10 (none–maximum). Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the impact of prior CINV on anticipatory NV in cycles 2 and 3. Results Five hundred ninety-eight patients (59 % female) were evaluable in cycle 2 (49 % HEC, 51 % MEC). The incidence of anticipatory emesis was low before cycles 2 and 3 (1.5–2.3 %). The incidence of clinically significant anticipatory nausea (score of ≥3) was 4.8, 7.9, and 8.3 % before cycles 1, 2, and 3, respectively, with adjusted odds ratio (OR), 3.95 (95 % confidence interval (CI), 2.23–7.00; p < 0.001) for patients with clinically significant nausea in prior cycles, compared with none. The adjusted ORs for other anticipatory NV endpoints ranged from 4.54–4.74 for patients with prior CINV. The occurrence of clinically significant anxiety in the prior cycle also resulted in a significantly increased likelihood of anticipatory nausea. Conclusions These findings highlight the importance of preventing CINV in cycle 1 to reduce anticipatory NV in subsequent cycles.