Comparison of G-CSF and GM-CSF adverse event profiles in office-based practices: preliminary study results

We investigated the adverse event profile of colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) used in office-based oncology practices in the United States. The impetus for the study was anecdotal reports from physicians and nurses working in community practice settings describing the differences in adverse drug events (ADEs) that their-patients experienced with the two CSFs currently available in the United States. The study was a retrospective review of office-based oncology practice records. The frequencies of drug-induced fever and other ADEs secondary to granulocyte (G)-CSF were compared with those of granulocyte-macrophage (GM)-CSF. Adverse drug events were those events that were documented by a clinician as being causally linked to CSF therapy and not obviously due to other causes. This preliminary report of the data indicated that there were some significant differences in the ADEs attributable to either G-CSF or GM-CSF. The appropriate use of CSFs in clinical practice also is discussed.