A Prospective Study of Electronic Symptom Reporting Via Mobile Phone Among Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Symptoms are common among patients with advanced malignancy undergoing treatment, and yet often go unrecognized by treatment providers. In addition to contributing to morbidity, poorly controlled symptoms drive emergency room utilization and hospital admission in this population, representing significant cost to patients, families, and the health care system. Systematic collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) has been proposed as a way to arm providers with the information necessary to intervene early, intensify symptom management, and improve symptom control. Recent research suggests that a standardized, web-based program of weekly patient-reported symptom monitoring leads to improved health-related quality of life and reduced acute care utilization; it may also prolong overall survival. Despite mounting evidence supporting its use among oncology patients, systematic PRO collection is lacking at most cancer centers, and optimal models for collection of PROs are poorly understood. The objective of this study is to evaluate prospectively the feasibility of a novel mobile phone-based intervention of weekly symptom reporting, among patients undergoing treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.