Electronic Patient Reporting of Symptoms During Cancer Treatment

NCT ID: NCT03249090

Last Updated: 2025-01-14

Study Results

Results available

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

1197 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2017-10-30

Study Completion Date

2023-08-30

Brief Summary

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The current study is designed to test nationally whether patients' outcomes and utilization of services can be improved through symptom monitoring via patient-reported outcomes between visits.

Detailed Description

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This is a cluster RCT at approximately 50 sites where randomization will occur in a 1:1 ratio at the site level (not at the individual patient level). Therefore, approximately 25 sites will be randomized to the PRO-TECT intervention arm (patient-reporting of symptoms), and approximately 25 sites will be randomized to the control arm (usual care delivery). Approximately 1200 patients will be enrolled. Specifically:

PROCEDURES AT ALL SITES (CONTROL SITES AND INTERVENTION SITES):

* Site staff (CRA and Nurse Champion required) will attend the site initiation webinar with UNC staff, including training for the PRO-Core online data management system and orientation to the symptom management guidelines.
* At enrollment, all participants will be given a booklet with patient-level symptom advice and a link to the content online.
* All participants will receive compensation for participation, mailed to them as gift cards by UNC.
* CRAs will train all participants how to complete outcomes questionnaires for the trial using the PRO-Core online system. Participants will be given a choice to complete these in clinic or from home online, or if necessary via paper in clinic (with the CRA entering the data into PRO-Core). If the patient does not self-complete this information, the CRA will contact them to collect the information and then enter it into PRO-Core. The outcomes questionnaires will be completed at baseline; and at month 1 (+/- 2 weeks); and at months 3, 6, 9, and 12/off-study (+/- 4 weeks each), and will be available in English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese. At each time point, the CRA will contact the participant to remind them about the upcoming questionnaire and offer help.
* Chart abstraction will be conducted by CRAs at baseline and at off-study for each participant, with data entered into the PRO-Core system. Date of death information will additionally be abstracted at 18 and 24 months, and possibly later per the UNC study team.
* CRAs will be asked to complete a feedback survey (entered by the CRA into the PRO-Core online system) and may be asked to participate in a brief telephone debriefing and/or site visit.
* Accrual will be monitored in a weekly teleconference between the UNC team and site CRAs.

ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES AT INTERVENTION SITES ONLY:

* At baseline, CRAs will also train patients to self-report symptoms and physical functioning using the PRO-Core system weekly for up to a year, with a choice to do this online or via an automated telephone system (patient choice), and a choice of English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese.
* Whenever a concerning symptom is reported, an automated "email alert" notification will be sent to the site CRA. The CRA will forward the email alert to the responsible clinical nurse (or other covering clinician) and CC the site's Nurse Champion. Within 72 hours, the CRA will document what action(s), if any, were taken by the nurse in response to the alert (entered by the CRA into a form in the PRO-Core system).
* A symptom report will be printed/generated by the site CRA whenever the patient has a clinic visit, and will be given to the oncologist and nurse caring for the patient.

Conditions

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Metastatic Cancer

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Patient Self-Reporting of Symptoms

Patients report symptoms weekly via web or automated telephone system. Email alerts to nurses for severe/worsening symptoms; printouts for clinicians at visits. Evidence based symptom management pathways provided to patients and clinicians.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Patient Self-Reporting of Symptoms

Intervention Type OTHER

At baseline, CRAs will train patients to self-report symptoms and physical functioning weekly for up to a year, with a choice to do so online or via an automated telephone system. Whenever a concerning symptom is reported, an automated "email alert" notification will be sent to the site CRA. The CRA will forward the alert to the responsible clinical nurse (or other covering clinician) and CC the site's Nurse Champion. Within 72 hours, the CRA will document what action(s), if any, were taken by the nurse in response to the alert (entered by the CRA into a form in the PRO-Core system). A symptom report will be printed/generated by the site CRA whenever the patient has a clinic visit and will be given to the oncologist and nurse caring for the patient.

Usual Care Delivery

Evidence-based symptom management pathways provided to patients and clinicians

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Usual Care Delivery

Intervention Type OTHER

Patients receive routine cancer care delivery with no additional systematic monitoring of symptoms

Interventions

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Patient Self-Reporting of Symptoms

At baseline, CRAs will train patients to self-report symptoms and physical functioning weekly for up to a year, with a choice to do so online or via an automated telephone system. Whenever a concerning symptom is reported, an automated "email alert" notification will be sent to the site CRA. The CRA will forward the alert to the responsible clinical nurse (or other covering clinician) and CC the site's Nurse Champion. Within 72 hours, the CRA will document what action(s), if any, were taken by the nurse in response to the alert (entered by the CRA into a form in the PRO-Core system). A symptom report will be printed/generated by the site CRA whenever the patient has a clinic visit and will be given to the oncologist and nurse caring for the patient.

Intervention Type OTHER

Usual Care Delivery

Patients receive routine cancer care delivery with no additional systematic monitoring of symptoms

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Adults (21+) with metastatic cancer of any type (EXCEPT leukemia or indolent \[slow growing\] lymphoma)
2. Receiving outpatient systemic cancer treatment for non-curative/palliative intent, including chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy.
3. Enrolled at any point in their treatment trajectory, meaning during any line of treatment, and at any point during a course or cycle of treatment.
4. Can understand English, Spanish, and/or Mandarin Chinese.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Cognitive deficits that would preclude understanding of consent form and/or questionnaires.
2. Current participation in a therapeutic clinical trial (because these often involve PRO questionnaires and intensive monitoring).
3. Patients being treated with curative intent (e.g., adjuvant chemotherapy for breast, lung, or ovarian cancer; primary curative therapy for testis cancer or lymphoma).
4. Receiving hormonal therapy only (e.g., tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors in breast cancer; androgen deprivation therapy in prostate cancer; or octreotide in neuroendocrine cancers)
5. Indolent lymphomas (due to their prolonged time courses that may be minimally symptomatic).
6. Leukemias (time courses inconsistent with other tumor types in chronic and acute leukemias).
7. Does not understand English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese.
Minimum Eligible Age

21 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of North Carolina

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Mayo Clinic

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

American Society of Clinical Oncology

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

American Cancer Society, Inc.

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC.

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Ethan Basch, MD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Locations

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Grand Valley Oncology

Grand Junction, Colorado, United States

Site Status

Gwinnett Medical Center

Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States

Site Status

Ingalls Memorial Hospital

Harvey, Illinois, United States

Site Status

Illinois CancerCare-Peoria

Peoria, Illinois, United States

Site Status

Quincy Medical Group

Quincy, Illinois, United States

Site Status

Carle Cancer Center

Urbana, Illinois, United States

Site Status

Franciscan Health Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Site Status

Memorial Hospital of South Bend

South Bend, Indiana, United States

Site Status

Union Hospital

Terre Haute, Indiana, United States

Site Status

University of Iowa Healthcare Cancer Services Quad Cities

Bettendorf, Iowa, United States

Site Status

Oncology Associates at Mercy Medical Center

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States

Site Status

Medical Oncology and Hematology Associates-Des Moines

Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Site Status

Eastern Maine Medical Center

Bangor, Maine, United States

Site Status

Anne Arundel Medical Center

Annapolis, Maryland, United States

Site Status

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Site Status

Meritus Medical Center

Hagerstown, Maryland, United States

Site Status

Lowell General Hospital

Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status

Henry Ford Hospital

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Site Status

St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital

Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States

Site Status

Mayo Clinic

Rochester, Minnesota, United States

Site Status

Metro Minnesota Community Oncology Research Consortium

Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, United States

Site Status

Mercy Clinic Cancer and Hematology - Chub O'Reilly Cancer Center

Springfield, Missouri, United States

Site Status

Cox Medical Center South

Springfield, Missouri, United States

Site Status

Missouri Baptist Medical Center

St Louis, Missouri, United States

Site Status

Billings Clinic Cancer Center

Billings, Montana, United States

Site Status

Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital

Bozeman, Montana, United States

Site Status

Nebraska Methodist Hospital

Omaha, Nebraska, United States

Site Status

Nevada Cancer Specialists

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Site Status

New Hampshire Oncology Hematology PA-Hooksett

Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States

Site Status

Hematology Oncology Associates of Central New York

East Syracuse, New York, United States

Site Status

Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert Einstein College of Medicine

The Bronx, New York, United States

Site Status

Cape Fear Valley Health System

Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States

Site Status

East Carolina University

Greenville, North Carolina, United States

Site Status

Rex Cancer Center

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

Site Status

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States

Site Status

Columbus NCI Community Oncology Research Program

Columbus, Ohio, United States

Site Status

Lankenau Medical Center

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

WellSpan Health - York Cancer Center

York, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Rhode Island Hospital

Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Site Status

Rapid City Regional Hospital

Rapid City, South Dakota, United States

Site Status

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, Texas, United States

Site Status

Centra Lynchburg Hematology Oncology Clinic

Lynchburg, Virginia, United States

Site Status

Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center

Huntington, West Virginia, United States

Site Status

Saint Vincent Hospital Cancer Center

Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States

Site Status

Marshfield Clinic

Marshfield, Wisconsin, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Basch E. Toward patient-centered drug development in oncology. N Engl J Med. 2013 Aug 1;369(5):397-400. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1114649. Epub 2013 Jul 3. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23822654 (View on PubMed)

Reilly CM, Bruner DW, Mitchell SA, Minasian LM, Basch E, Dueck AC, Cella D, Reeve BB. A literature synthesis of symptom prevalence and severity in persons receiving active cancer treatment. Support Care Cancer. 2013 Jun;21(6):1525-50. doi: 10.1007/s00520-012-1688-0. Epub 2013 Jan 12.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23314601 (View on PubMed)

Henry DH, Viswanathan HN, Elkin EP, Traina S, Wade S, Cella D. Symptoms and treatment burden associated with cancer treatment: results from a cross-sectional national survey in the U.S. Support Care Cancer. 2008 Jul;16(7):791-801. doi: 10.1007/s00520-007-0380-2. Epub 2008 Jan 17.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18204940 (View on PubMed)

Cleeland CS, Zhao F, Chang VT, Sloan JA, O'Mara AM, Gilman PB, Weiss M, Mendoza TR, Lee JW, Fisch MJ. The symptom burden of cancer: Evidence for a core set of cancer-related and treatment-related symptoms from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Symptom Outcomes and Practice Patterns study. Cancer. 2013 Dec 15;119(24):4333-40. doi: 10.1002/cncr.28376. Epub 2013 Sep 24.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24114037 (View on PubMed)

Fromme EK, Eilers KM, Mori M, Hsieh YC, Beer TM. How accurate is clinician reporting of chemotherapy adverse effects? A comparison with patient-reported symptoms from the Quality-of-Life Questionnaire C30. J Clin Oncol. 2004 Sep 1;22(17):3485-90. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2004.03.025.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15337796 (View on PubMed)

Laugsand EA, Sprangers MA, Bjordal K, Skorpen F, Kaasa S, Klepstad P. Health care providers underestimate symptom intensities of cancer patients: a multicenter European study. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2010 Sep 21;8:104. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-8-104.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20858248 (View on PubMed)

Atkinson TM, Li Y, Coffey CW, Sit L, Shaw M, Lavene D, Bennett AV, Fruscione M, Rogak L, Hay J, Gonen M, Schrag D, Basch E. Reliability of adverse symptom event reporting by clinicians. Qual Life Res. 2012 Sep;21(7):1159-64. doi: 10.1007/s11136-011-0031-4. Epub 2011 Oct 8.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21984468 (View on PubMed)

Fung CH, Hays RD. Prospects and challenges in using patient-reported outcomes in clinical practice. Qual Life Res. 2008 Dec;17(10):1297-302. doi: 10.1007/s11136-008-9379-5. Epub 2008 Aug 18.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18709564 (View on PubMed)

Conway PH, Mostashari F, Clancy C. The future of quality measurement for improvement and accountability. JAMA. 2013 Jun 5;309(21):2215-6. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.4929. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23736730 (View on PubMed)

Stover AM, Deal AM, Ginos B, Dueck A, Spears PA, Jansen J, Carr P, Henson S, Bennett AV, Jonsson M, Snyder C, Basch E. Impact of Providing an Automated Telephone Option to Report Weekly Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in the PRO-TECT Trial (AFT-39) on Disparity Gaps in Symptom Management and Outcomes. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2025 May;9:e2500046. doi: 10.1200/CCI-25-00046. Epub 2025 May 23.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 40408610 (View on PubMed)

Basch E, Schrag D, Jansen J, Henson S, Ginos B, Stover AM, Carr P, Spears PA, Jonsson M, Deal AM, Bennett AV, Thanarajasingam G, Rogak L, Reeve BB, Snyder C, Bruner D, Cella D, Kottschade LA, Perlmutter J, Geoghegan C, Given B, Mazza GL, Miller R, Strasser JF, Zylla DM, Weiss A, Blinder VS, Wolf AP, Dueck AC. Symptom monitoring with electronic patient-reported outcomes during cancer treatment: final results of the PRO-TECT cluster-randomized trial. Nat Med. 2025 Apr;31(4):1225-1232. doi: 10.1038/s41591-025-03507-y. Epub 2025 Feb 7.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 39920394 (View on PubMed)

Lee MK, Mitchell SA, Basch E, Mazza GL, Langlais BT, Thanarajasingam G, Ginos BF, Rogak L, Meek EA, Jansen J, Deal AM, Carr P, Blinder VS, Jonsson M, Mody GN, Mendoza TR, Bennett AV, Schrag D, Dueck AC. Identification of meaningful individual-level change thresholds for worsening on the patient-reported outcomes version of the common terminology criteria for adverse events (PRO-CTCAE(R)). Qual Life Res. 2025 Feb;34(2):495-507. doi: 10.1007/s11136-024-03819-5. Epub 2024 Nov 6.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 39503942 (View on PubMed)

Basch E, Schrag D, Henson S, Jansen J, Ginos B, Stover AM, Carr P, Spears PA, Jonsson M, Deal AM, Bennett AV, Thanarajasingam G, Rogak LJ, Reeve BB, Snyder C, Bruner D, Cella D, Kottschade LA, Perlmutter J, Geoghegan C, Samuel-Ryals CA, Given B, Mazza GL, Miller R, Strasser JF, Zylla DM, Weiss A, Blinder VS, Dueck AC. Effect of Electronic Symptom Monitoring on Patient-Reported Outcomes Among Patients With Metastatic Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2022 Jun 28;327(24):2413-2422. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.9265.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 35661856 (View on PubMed)

Basch E, Stover AM, Schrag D, Chung A, Jansen J, Henson S, Carr P, Ginos B, Deal A, Spears PA, Jonsson M, Bennett AV, Mody G, Thanarajasingam G, Rogak LJ, Reeve BB, Snyder C, Kottschade LA, Charlot M, Weiss A, Bruner D, Dueck AC. Clinical Utility and User Perceptions of a Digital System for Electronic Patient-Reported Symptom Monitoring During Routine Cancer Care: Findings From the PRO-TECT Trial. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2020 Oct;4:947-957. doi: 10.1200/CCI.20.00081.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 33112661 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol

View Document

Document Type: Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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AFT-39

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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