Longitudinal ecological momentary assessment compliance among patients with cancer pain.

Abstract

e23017 Background: Ecological momentary assessments (EMA) allow for frequent assessments and reduce retrospective reporting biases by prompting participants to answer surveys during moments of their everyday life. The validity of EMAs relies on participants completing the surveys (i.e., compliance) for the duration of the protocol, which varies across studies. EMA compliance has been correlated with sample- and participant-level characteristics across limited timeframes; however, no study has investigated EMA compliance, and associated patient characteristics, across a 12-month multi-site study in an oncology population. Methods: Ambulatory outpatients with cancer-related pain enrolled in an ongoing observational, multi-site study assessing the role of cannabis in pain management were asked to complete EMAs (see: NCT06037681). These included seven consecutive days of EMAs each month for 12 months. One survey was administered every morning and three random surveys throughout the day (i.e., a total of 336 surveys per participant). Participant compliance was defined as the percentage of surveys completed (out of 336). Compliance data were analyzed over the study period and descriptive data are presented. Results: A total of 166 participants across Western New York and Eastern Pennsylvania who completed their 12-month visit to date, irrespective of if they completed or missed monthly sessions across the study period, were included in analyses. Of these, 66 (40%) participants reported using cannabis and 100 participants (60%) did not. Approximately 69% of the sample identified as White, and 31% as Black or African American, 66% identified as female, and the mean age was 57 years old. The most frequently reported cancer type was Breast (n = 52), followed by Gastrointestinal (n = 28). Overall, our sample demonstrated a high aggregate, 12-month, mean compliance of 77% across the 12-month study period. Associations with participant characteristics are shown in the table. The average compliance for months 1 to 6 was the same as months 7 to 12 (~77%). Conclusions: Oncology outpatients in our sample demonstrated a sustained high compliance across our 12-month study period, indicating a promising method to assess how participants manage their pain symptoms throughout the day. Investigating trends in long-term EMA compliance can inform future research protocols to improve the collection of real-time data to study daily behaviors and associated outcomes in the oncology population. Associations between quarterly compliance and participant characteristics. Months 1-3 Months 4-6 Month 7-9 Months 10-12 Age a -0.08 0.03 -0.05 0.01 Gender Male Female 77%79% 77%77% 74%79% 76%80% Race White African American/Black 81%71% 80%72% 81%69% 82%73% a Pearson correlations.