• Posted February 12, 2025

'E-reporting' Daily Symptoms Boosts Cancer Patients' Well-Being

Patients with advanced cancers who checked in daily with their care teams electronically gained a better quality of life, a new study concludes.

This "patient-reported outcome" (PRO) strategy did not improve patients' survival, the study found. But it did help their care teams spot and treat issues such as pain and frailty earlier, easing daily symptoms.

“Doctors and nurses are often unaware of symptoms and side effects that can worsen for cancer patients between office visits, leading to complications and unnecessary suffering,” lead study author Dr. Ethan Basch explained. He's a professor of medicine and chief of medical oncology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. 

PRO "was developed to enable patients to report their own symptoms and side effects, and our study showed that PRO keeps care teams informed so that they can intervene promptly to help patients," said Basch, who also directs the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at UNC Lineberger in Chapel Hill.

His team published its findings recently in the journal Nature Medicine.

PRO works by electronically providing patients with easy-to-understand checklists they can use to rate daily issues such as pain or mobility.  Patients send their feedback, via computer or smartphone, to their care teams, all from the comfort of their homes. 

But are these technologies really helping patients?

To find out, the new study involved nearly 1,200 U.S. patients with metastatic (later-stage) cancers, cared for at 52 oncology practices across 26 states. 

About half of patients were monitored with the help of the PRO system, while the other half got usual care, checking in with their care teams in the traditional way. 

The patients' average age was 63. In all, 26% lived in rural areas and 17% had never used the internet. 

Use of PRO had no impact on how long patients lived, the study found. 

However, the system did seem to boost a patient's quality of life. 

Among the findings:

• Delays in deterioration of physical function. Patients using PRO began to falter in their physical abilities at a median of 12.6 months, versus 8.5 months for those monitored in the traditional way. (Median means half faltered sooner, half later.)

• Better quality of life. Patients using PRO saw a significant (28%) improvement of their quality of life that lasted an average 15.6 months, compared to 12.2 months for folks not using the technology.

• Fewer emergency room visits. People using PRO required an average 6.1% fewer trips to the ER, and had a 16% longer period before their first ER visit, compared to folks using traditional care. 

• Better sense of control. Patients using PRO tended to say that they felt more in charge of their well-being (84% saying so), while 77% said it improved communication with their care teams. The vast majority (91%) said they'd recommend PRO to other patients.

Basch noted that the PRO system used in the study did not rely on physicians, who are already often overloaded with paperwork. 

“PRO largely circumvents physicians and is managed by nurses and/or patient navigators, whose jobs often encompass symptom management and care coordination," he explained in a UNC news release. "The PRO systems have also proven very easy for patients to use, in terms of technical ability."

The PRO system performed well across a variety of cancer types. While this study focused on patients with advanced cancers, it's hoped that future trials will examine its performance among people battling cancer in its earlier stages, Basch said.

"We certainly hope researchers will take an interest in establishing more studies to provide evidence of that benefit," he concluded.

More information

Find out more about patient-reported outcomes at the Commonwealth Fund.

SOURCE: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, news release, Feb. 7, 2025