A study of a supportive application with integrated patient-reported outcomes in patients with advanced pancreatic or lung cancer (BetterEveryDay)

Abstract

Purpose: We developed the supportive application with integrated patient-reported outcomes questionaries. This study tested the application' feasibility in patients with advanced pancreatic or lung cancer.

Methods: In the study we included patients with advanced pancreatic or lung cancer of performance status 0-2 receiving 1st line systemic therapy. Patient-reported outcomes, adapted from the National Cancer Institute, and three self-reflecting questions were sent to the patients weekly. The predefined threshold of severity determined initiating of extraordinary healthcare professional' assistance. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients who responded to at least two questionnaires by 12 weeks, with an 80 % completion rate of patient-reported outcomes considered as a requirement to continue with Part B. Secondary endpoints included proportion of patients logged on at least once, recruitment rate, time spent by personnel and application functionality and utility.

Results: In total 30 patients with pancreatic cancer (n = 17) or lung cancer (n = 13) were included between August 2021 to December 2021. The proportion of patients responding to at least two questionnaires within 12 weeks was 87 %. A total of 29 patients (97 %) logged on at least once by 12 weeks. On average, participants completed eight questionnaires (range 0-14), including application evaluations, over the 12-week study period (range 0-14). The healthcare professional spent a mean of 21 min per patient on phone calls. Fourteen patients rated the application' functionality and utility at an average of 77 %.

Conclusions: The app with integrated weekly patient-reported outcomes and self-reflecting questions was feasible for patients with advanced pancreatic or lung cancer and time spent by personnel was acceptable. Based on these findings, a randomized follow-up phase (part B) evaluating the app's impact on clinical outcomes is currently ongoing.

Clinical trials register: ID NCT04611867 (BetterEveryDay); Registration date November 2, 2020.

Keywords: BetterEveryDay; Non-small cell lung cancer; Pancreatic cancer; Patient-reported outcomes; Supportive application.