Skip to main content
Journal cover image

An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Rosett, HA; Locke, SC; Wolf, SP; Herring, KW; Samsa, GP; Troy, JD; LeBlanc, TW
Published in: Support Care Cancer
November 2020

PURPOSE: Utilization of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) in the clinic can improve quality of life and prolong survival in cancer care. However, there remain unanswered questions regarding trends in missing data and the potential effect on real-time patient care. METHODS: This study utilized a prospectively collected dataset of ePROs from oncology clinics that administered the Patient Care Monitor 2.0 (PCM), a validated symptoms survey assessing 78 items for men, and 86 for women. We tabulated the frequency of missing items, by item and domain (emotional, functional and physical symptom-related), and examined these by age, gender, education, race and marital status. RESULTS: Within 20,986 encounters, there were responses to at least 1 PCM item from 6933 unique patients. The highest frequency of missing answers occurred for: "attend a paid job" (10.7%), "reduced sexual enjoyment" (3.8%), and "run" (3.7%). By domain, 12.3% of functional, 8.4% of physical symptom-related, and 1.6% of emotional constructs contained at least one missing item. For functional and physical symptom-related items, missingness was most common in patients >60 years old. CONCLUSION: The frequency of missingness was highest for functional items, like attending a paid job, suggesting that some respondents (e.g., retirees without a paid job) skipped questions that were less applicable to them. More universal issues for cancer patients, such as emotional well-being, had much lower frequencies of missingness. This suggests differential item completion that warrants further study to understand the inherent drivers. Identifying causes of missingness could improve the clinical utility of ePROs and highlight opportunities to personalize care.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Support Care Cancer

DOI

EISSN

1433-7339

Publication Date

November 2020

Volume

28

Issue

11

Start / End Page

5099 / 5107

Location

Germany

Related Subject Headings

  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Quality of Life
  • Patient Reported Outcome Measures
  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • Neoplasms
  • Middle Aged
  • Mental Health
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Rosett, H. A., Locke, S. C., Wolf, S. P., Herring, K. W., Samsa, G. P., Troy, J. D., & LeBlanc, T. W. (2020). An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care. Support Care Cancer, 28(11), 5099–5107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05338-8
Rosett, Heather A., Susan C. Locke, Steven P. Wolf, Kris W. Herring, Gregory P. Samsa, Jesse D. Troy, and Thomas W. LeBlanc. “An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care.Support Care Cancer 28, no. 11 (November 2020): 5099–5107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05338-8.
Rosett HA, Locke SC, Wolf SP, Herring KW, Samsa GP, Troy JD, et al. An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care. Support Care Cancer. 2020 Nov;28(11):5099–107.
Rosett, Heather A., et al. “An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care.Support Care Cancer, vol. 28, no. 11, Nov. 2020, pp. 5099–107. Pubmed, doi:10.1007/s00520-020-05338-8.
Rosett HA, Locke SC, Wolf SP, Herring KW, Samsa GP, Troy JD, LeBlanc TW. An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care. Support Care Cancer. 2020 Nov;28(11):5099–5107.
Journal cover image

Published In

Support Care Cancer

DOI

EISSN

1433-7339

Publication Date

November 2020

Volume

28

Issue

11

Start / End Page

5099 / 5107

Location

Germany

Related Subject Headings

  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Quality of Life
  • Patient Reported Outcome Measures
  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • Neoplasms
  • Middle Aged
  • Mental Health
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female