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Assessing Psychological Toxicity and Patient-Reported Distress as the Sixth Vital Sign in Cancer Care and Clinical Trials.

Publication ,  Journal Article
LeBlanc, TW; Kamal, AH
Published in: AMA J Ethics
May 1, 2017

As the number of available cancer therapies continues to grow, there is increasing interest in their impact on cancer patients' lived experiences. Screening for distress is one way to measure psychological dimensions of cancer patients' experiences, and doing so is increasingly part of standard operations at major cancer centers across the US. To date, however, most clinical trials have not adequately captured patients' experiences as part of their outcome assessments, so clinicians lack data needed to guide their responses to psychological features of patients' illness experiences. As distress becomes the "sixth vital sign" in routine cancer care, we argue that clinical trials should assess patients' experiences in the same way that they robustly screen for adverse events and toxicities. New interventions are needed to address distress.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

AMA J Ethics

DOI

EISSN

2376-6980

Publication Date

May 1, 2017

Volume

19

Issue

5

Start / End Page

460 / 466

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Stress, Psychological
  • Patient Outcome Assessment
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care
  • Neoplasms
  • Humans
  • Disease Management
  • Delivery of Health Care
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Antinematodal Agents
 

Citation

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LeBlanc, T. W., & Kamal, A. H. (2017). Assessing Psychological Toxicity and Patient-Reported Distress as the Sixth Vital Sign in Cancer Care and Clinical Trials. AMA J Ethics, 19(5), 460–466. https://doi.org/10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.stas1-1705
LeBlanc, Thomas W., and Arif H. Kamal. “Assessing Psychological Toxicity and Patient-Reported Distress as the Sixth Vital Sign in Cancer Care and Clinical Trials.AMA J Ethics 19, no. 5 (May 1, 2017): 460–66. https://doi.org/10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.stas1-1705.
LeBlanc, Thomas W., and Arif H. Kamal. “Assessing Psychological Toxicity and Patient-Reported Distress as the Sixth Vital Sign in Cancer Care and Clinical Trials.AMA J Ethics, vol. 19, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 460–66. Pubmed, doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.stas1-1705.

Published In

AMA J Ethics

DOI

EISSN

2376-6980

Publication Date

May 1, 2017

Volume

19

Issue

5

Start / End Page

460 / 466

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Stress, Psychological
  • Patient Outcome Assessment
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care
  • Neoplasms
  • Humans
  • Disease Management
  • Delivery of Health Care
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Antinematodal Agents