Use of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Risk Prediction Model Development to Support Cancer Care Delivery: A Scoping...

The integration of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into electronic health records (EHRs) has enabled systematic collection of symptom data to manage post-treatment symptoms. The use and integration of PRO data into routine care are associated with overall treatment success, adherence, and satisfaction. Clinical trials have demonstrated the prognostic value of PROs including physical function and global health status in predicting survival. It is unknown to what extent routinely collected PRO data are used in the development of risk prediction models (RPMs) in oncology care. The objective of the scoping review is to assess how PROs are used to train risk RPMs to predict patient outcomes in oncology care.

Using the scoping review methodology outlined in the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis, we searched four databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, and Web of Science) to locate peer-reviewed oncology articles that used PROs as predictors to train models. Study characteristics including settings, clinical outcomes, and model training, testing, validation, and performance data were extracted for analyses.

Of the 1,254 studies identified, 18 met inclusion criteria. Most studies performed retrospective analyses of prospectively collected PRO data to build prediction models. Post-treatment survival was the most common outcome predicted. Discriminative performance of models trained using PROs was better than models trained without PROs. Most studies did not report model calibration.

Systematic collection of PROs in routine practice provides an opportunity to use patient-reported data to develop RPMs. Model performance improves when PROs are used in combination with other comprehensive data sources.