Real-Life Data reported by patients: What do they contribute in oncology?

by Ana Díaz-Roncero and Patricia Domínguez, April 6, 2022

After diagnosis, oncology patients begin a process of periodic follow-up by their specialist, who is in charge of evaluating the patient’s health, treatment, symptoms, adverse events, etc., all vitally important for the management of the disease.

This enables them to determine the patient’s general status, and its impact on his or her quality of life. This is an element, as we know, that is becoming more relevant as an indicator used for the improvement of the oncology care process and the adaptation of treatment for the patient’s benefit, as well as for the generation of research based on Real-Life Data.

Normally, this information about the patient’s status is collected by the oncologist during the follow-up appointments, and is a function of the data provided by the patient during the consultation. However, in a disease like cancer, it is vital to understand the patient’s progress as well as compliance with treatment in real time.

The ability to rely on these data reported by the patient at the time the event takes place provides a high-value resource that enables the specialist to respond in a rapid and effective way, avoiding the need to wait until the next appointment. As we mentioned above, this allows for the adaptation of the oncology care process, as well as the treatment, based on the needs of each patient, impacting the patient’s health and quality of life.

These data reported by the patient, known as Patient-Reported Outcomes or PROs, are already providing a multitude of benefits in the management of other chronic diseases, as we saw in the article “Collection of patient data in the outpatient setting: What does it involve and what can it contribute?”

In the case of oncology, in which the awareness of and notification about adverse events is especially important and complex, it has been observed for some time that the use of PROs enables the capture of subjective adverse events in the most objective manner, as indicated in the article “Patient-Reported Outcomes and the Evolution of Adverse Event Reporting in Oncology”.

In addition, through PROs, providers can be notified about symptoms and information about quality of life, etc., which, detected in a timely way, can help avoid failure to adhere to treatment. The provider can intervene at the appropriate time, improving the quality of care.  All this has already been reflected in publications like “Implementing Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Clinical Breast Cancer Care”, where it was indicated that PROMs offer promising results for patients, providers, and the healthcare process regarding physician-patient communication, adherence, acceptability, satisfaction, etc. 

It is possible to carry all this out by using Digital Health solutions that enable the collection of this information from the patient in a simple way, at a precise time, providing this information to the oncologist when the event takes place, for the provider’s information, analysis, and action.

It is ever more important to make use of these tools to gather Real-Life Data from the oncology patients, enabling the improvement of the cancer care process, the adaptation of treatment, and the development of research based on real life.

#RealWorldData #RealLifeData #PatientReportedOutcomes #Oncology