Smartphone app helps those with advanced cancer maintain quality of life

A smartphone app can help individuals with advanced cancer deal with symptoms and maintain their quality of life, according to new research.

The SUPPORT+ app asks them each week to complete a short questionnaire about their physical and emotional symptoms, researchers reported at a meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.

Patients using the app had better quality of life than those receiving usual care, who had to take it upon themselves to proactively report any new or worsening symptoms, researchers said.

“This randomized clinical trial demonstrates that proactively monitoring symptoms using a digital platform, combined with timely nurse follow-up, can help maintain quality of life and reduce unplanned hospitalizations,” said lead researcher Dr. Wendy Wing-lok Chan, a clinical associate professor of oncology at the University of Hong Kong in China.

For the study, researchers recruited more than 1,200 people with advanced cancer who were not being actively treated for cancer. They came from six palliative care clinics in Hong Kong.

Roughly half were assigned to use the SUPPORT+ app, in which they provided a weekly self-assessment of their symptoms.

The app itself provided practical guidance on managing mild or moderate symptoms. More severe or worsening symptoms were referred to a team of palliative care nurses for review, with a nurse reaching out by phone to provide support.

After 18 weeks, about 12% of people in the app group experienced a decline in their level of functioning, compared with more than 17% in the usual care group, researchers found.

Overall quality-of-life scores actually increased after 18 weeks among app users, but declined for those with usual care.

The number of ER visits was similar between the two groups, but app users had fewer hospital admissions and shorter hospital stays.

“People with cancer frequently suffer from symptoms such as pain, fatigue or sleep disturbance and often bear those symptoms silently. When patients are able to report symptoms and receive help, they feel better, and that can lead to better outcomes,” said Dr. Toby Christopher Campbell, who reviewed the findings. He’s a thoracic medical oncologist and health chief of palliative care at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

“This trial adds to the evidence base that patients, with high-quality reporting and interventions, can improve their symptoms and their quality of life,” he added in a news release. “As the trial uses a mobile app for symptom monitoring, patients need to be savvy enough to interact with an app and implement the instructions given.”

Researchers presented their findings Sunday at ASCO’s meeting in Chicago.

The study was also published June 1 in JAMA Network Open.

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