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Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Posted: Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Using a remote symptom monitoring platform to gather indicators of social determinants of health in patients with multiple myeloma may help to identify actionable risk factors for poor clinical outcomes, according to a presentation given at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium (Abstract 354). Tanya Marya Wildes, MD, MSCI, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, and colleagues suggested an additional focus should be placed on identifying symptoms in patients who live alone and in those without caregivers.
From 2021 to 2023, a total of 151 patients with multiple myeloma were recruited for the study. Patients were enrolled in the Carevive remote symptom monitoring platform. They were asked to complete a survey at baseline followed by weekly surveys aimed at assessing their clinical status. Patients’ demographic and social information was also collected.
Analysis of patient demographic information revealed that 56% of participants were male, 75% were White, and 70% had at least one medical comorbidity. A total of 56% of patients (n = 84) provided responses to questions targeted at assessing social determinants of health. Responses showed that 80% of patients were married (n = 67), 58% documented their employment status as retired (n = 49), and 54% had at least a bachelor’s degree (n = 45). Moreover, 25% of patients had a full- or part-time caregiver (n = 21), and 87% of patients reported living with at least one additional adult (n = 73).
Caregivers were more likely to report symptoms weekly (1.67 total symptoms) compared with patients self-reporting their own symptoms (1.12 total symptoms). A similar trend was observed in patients who lived with at least one additional individual (1.53 total symptoms) compared with patients self-reporting their own symptoms (1.12 total symptoms).
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit coi.asco.org.
2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium
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