Aim: There is growing recognition of the role of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in oncology care and their electronic collection using smartphone applications (apps). We aim to inform the future clinical implementation of these tools by analysing real-world demographic trends in engagement with an app used to track PROs.
Methods: 510 unique users who met the inclusion criteria of being patients reporting symptoms in the CancerAid app between June and December 2018 were used for analysis. The app is free to download, and users are able to track up to 18 different symptoms based on the combined Symptom Tracking and Reporting, and Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale frameworks. For analysis, users were divided into gender and age groups: <20, 20-39, 40-69 and 70+. Engagement with the app including symptom type, input frequency, severity score (out of 10) and notes logged were analysed. All data were collected in compliance with Australian data security and health data privacy requirements.
Results: Of the 510 unique users, 57.9% of users were female. 6.5% were aged <20, 25.9% 20-39, 58.4% 40-69, and 9.1% 70+. Pain, ‘other’ and fatigue were the most recurrently tracked symptoms across all age groups. The ‘other’ group permitted users to track symptoms not initially listed, and make comments to further describe their symptoms. This was the second most recurrently recorded symptom category, and its usage increased with age. In contrast, the 20-39 and 40-69 age groups utilised a relatively quantitative approach to logging, recording fewer notes than the 70+ group.
Conclusion: An age-diverse group of users successfully engaged with the app-based collection of PROs. For clinical implementation, consideration should be given to the most common symptoms of pain and fatigue, along with the reporting preferences of each age group as there exists a trend of improved engagement with qualitative logging as age increases.