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Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Posted: Friday, September 9, 2022
Shaji K. Kumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues compared critical patient experiences of those diagnosed with multiple myeloma who were enrolled in clinical trials against those treated with standard-of-care methods. Published in JCO Oncology Practice, the results of this study suggest that patients should be educated about the possible implications of clinical trial participation.
“We observed that patients treated on clinical trials reported comparable quality of life and quality of care with patients treated outside of clinical trials,” concluded the investigators. “Our study also highlights the financial burden experienced by patients with cancer, with a high proportion of patients in both groups reporting financial burden with cancer care.”
The study authors prospectively reviewed the quality of life, perception of care, and financial burden of patients with multiple myeloma who were treated during clinical trials (n = 35) and compared them with patients treated with standard approaches (n = 88). Participants were administered questionnaires that covered the aforementioned experiences at baseline, every month for the first 3 months, and at 6 and 12 months from therapy initiation.
No significant differences in experiences were observed between the clinical trial and nonclinical trial groups. Although there was a decline in overall quality of life within the first 3 months among both groups, this gradually improved by month 12; the highest improvement was reported in the function well-being subdomain. Moreover, individuals in both cohorts appeared to be highly satisfied regarding the quality of care they received.
Financial burden was reported in 16% of patients in clinical trials and 19% of those receiving standard care; this increased to 33% and 49%, respectively, over the span of 1 year. Of note, the majority of patients in both groups stated that they received all the care deemed medically necessary. Nonetheless, a large portion of participants admitted they had to make financial sacrifices due to their cancer diagnosis.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit ascopubs.org.
