Characterizing the Objective Time Spent on Health Care Activities in Clinic and at Home for Patients With Cancer

While the time burden of cancer care is increasingly recognized in oncology, existing research lacks the granularity needed to identify intervention targets. This study characterized time spent on cancer care at home and in-clinic, including travel, waiting, and clinical tasks, assessing variations by treatment modality.

We conducted a secondary analysis of two longitudinal cohorts. Cohort 1 included patients with metastatic breast or advanced ovarian cancer (n = 55) and Cohort 2 included patients with any cancer (n = 55) receiving systemic anti-cancer therapy. Participants used a mobile application for 28 days that collected GPS and motion sensor data to infer locations. Daily surveys characterized activities and captured time spent on home-based tasks.

The study population (N = 110) was predominantly female and White, receiving a mix of infusion and oral treatments. Participants recorded 597 out-of-home healthcare episodes. While median time receiving care per episode for lab-only visits was short (10 min), visits combining labs and treatment had a median duration of 162 min (compared to treatment alone, median duration of 68 min). Patients on infusion therapies experienced higher time burdens per episode both in-facility (median 125 min vs. 50 min for oral therapy) and at home for scheduling and symptom management (median 188 min vs. 102 min).

Patients face substantial time burdens that extend beyond the clinical encounter. Waiting between stages, such as labs and treatment, makes combined out-of-home healthcare episodes disproportionately time-consuming. These data facilitate a deeper understanding of the trade-offs between different treatment modalities and care delivery models.