A Digital Therapeutic Application (ePAL) to Manage Pain in Patients With Advanced Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Mihir KamdarKamal JethwaniAmanda Jayne CentiStephen AgboolaNils FischerLara TraegerSimone RinaldiJacob StrandChristine RitchieJennifer S TemelJoseph A GreerJoseph KvedarAreej El-JawarhiVicki JacksonPublished in: Journal of pain and symptom management (2024)
We enrolled 112 patients who were randomly assigned to ePAL (N = 56) or usual care (N = 56). Patients utilized ePAL on average 2.1 times per week to report pain symptoms, and 47.6% reported their pain at least once per week over eight weeks. Patients randomized to ePAL reported lower pain scores at Week-4 (mean: 3.16 vs. 4.28, P = 0.010) and week-8 (mean:2.99 vs. 4.05, P = 0.017), compared to those receiving usual care. Participants randomized to ePAL were less likely to experience a pain-related hospitalization compared to those in the usual care group (7.1% vs. 23.2% P = 0.018) CONCLUSIONS: ePAL was associated with lower patient-reported pain and fewer pain-related hospitalizations compared to usual care in patients with advanced cancer. This study demonstrates the promise of digital therapeutics for improving patients' symptoms while reducing burdensome hospitalizations.
Keyphrases
- pain management
- chronic pain
- palliative care
- advanced cancer
- end stage renal disease
- neuropathic pain
- healthcare
- patient reported
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- chronic kidney disease
- placebo controlled
- prognostic factors
- quality improvement
- double blind
- open label
- physical activity
- small molecule
- clinical trial
- artificial intelligence
- sleep quality
- drug induced