Patient-Reported Outcome Version of the Common Criteria for Adverse Events

Overview

Childhood cancer survivors are vulnerable to treatment-related late effects, including physical and psychosocial morbidities, subsequent malignancies, and premature death. Symptom assessment provides a unique insight into survivorship care since symptoms not only indicate the manifestation for the occurrence of chronic health conditions, but also impact quality of life and survival. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has developed a Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE) to assess symptomatic adverse events (AEs) for adult-onset cancer patients who are receiving cancer therapies. However, content-appropriate and clinically validated symptom assessment tools for adult survivors of childhood cancer are not available. Primary Object 1: Establish content validity for the PRO-CTCAE-SCC Primary Objective 1A: Conduct a symptom selection process through qualitative research to identify symptomatic AEs for adult survivors of childhood cancer Primary Objective 1B: Create symptomatic AE items for adult survivors of childhood cancer based on the prevalence and clinical importance ratings on the items Primary Objective 2: Validate the PRO-CTCAE-SCC using psychometric methods and objective clinical parameters Primary Objective 2A: Test dimensionality for the PRO-CTCAE-SCC Primary Objective 2B: Test clinical validity for the PRO-CTCAE-SCC Primary Objective 2C: Test responsiveness to change for the PRO-CTCAE-SCC Secondary Objective 1: Increase clinical usefulness of the PRO-CTCAE-SCC Secondary Objective 2: Establish meaningful cut-points and minimally important differences (MIDs) on symptom burden scores for clinical decision-making

We propose to adapt an existing symptomatic adverse event tool, the Patient-Reported Outcomes Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE), to be content appropriate and clinically meaningful for adult survivors of childhood cancer using two well-established childhood cancer survivor cohorts. Psychometric methodologies will be used to validate this tool by incorporating objective clinical anchors collected from medical evaluations. Our symptomatic AE tool has the potential to augment the Children Oncology Group Survivorship Care Guidelines by implementing risk-based symptom screening to track and anticipate adverse health events.