Background and Objective Understanding the patient experience is important for identifying the unmet need in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The current study aimed to develop a comprehensive chronic lymphocytic leukemia conceptual model. Methods The conceptual model was based on literature searches, review of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient blogs/ forums, and interviews with five expert clinicians, with 20 patients who received at most one treatment (first line) for their chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and with 20 patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. De-identified interviews were transcribed, coded, and evaluated using qualitative data analysis software. Results Thirty-five prevalent chronic lymphocytic leukemia-related symptom and impact concepts were identified from literature searches, patient blogs/forums, and clinician interviews. Patient interviews confirmed the identified concepts and revealed five additional concepts. Fatigue-related sub-components were identified from how patients described their fatigue, covering symptoms (tiredness/need for sleep, lack of energy, weakness, cognitive fatigue), and impacts (decreased ability to maintain their social, familial, or professional role, decreased physical functioning, frustration). Three versions of the conceptual model were created: an overall model with all concepts; a model highlighting the most prominent concepts in first line; and a model highlighting the most prominent concepts in relapsed or refractory disease. Prominent concepts in both first line and relapsed or refractory disease were fatigue-related symptoms and impacts, muscle/joint aches, night sweats, bruising, fever, recurrent infections/illness, insomnia, decreased cognitive/emotional functioning, anxiety/worry, stress, depression, financial difficulty, and fear of death. Dyspnea and cough were prominent in first line only, and enlarged lymph nodes, headaches, pain/discomfort, weight loss, nausea/vomiting, and infusion reactions were prominent in relapsed or refractory disease only. Conclusions The results show that fatigue is a dominant issue affecting patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The three versions of the conceptual model can help researchers to understand patients' unmet needs and guide the patient-reported outcome strategy for clinical trials.
Introduction: The FACIT-Fatigue is a 13-item patient-reported outcome instrument (PRO) that was designed to assess fatigue-related symptoms and impacts on daily functioning. This study assessed the content validity of the FACIT-Fatigue in patients with CLL to help determine if it is fit-for-purpose in this population. Methods: Forty adults with first-line (1L) or relapsed or refractory (R/R) CLL took part in an interview study comprising concept elicitation and cognitive debriefing. All participants had experienced CLL-related symptoms (fatigue, weight loss, fever or night sweats) in the past week. For concept elicitation, interviewers used a standardized semi-structured interview guide with open-ended and prompted questions to explore patients' experiences of the signs, symptoms and impacts of CLL and its treatments. Patients were asked to provide a disturbance rating of these concepts on a 0-10 scale of severity. All interviewed patients completed the FACIT-Fatigue. Item scores can range from 0 ("not at all") to 4 ("very much"), and the total score from 0 to 52; lower scores indicate greater fatigue. The recall period for each item is the past 7 days. The general population mean score is 43 (Cella et al. 2002; Montan et al. 2018). During cognitive debriefing, the clarity of the FACIT-Fatigue items, their relevance to the patients, and the comprehensiveness of the response options were assessed. Interviews were carried out by telephone and lasted about 60-75 minutes. De-identified audio-recorded interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. Results: Median age of participants was 58 years (range: 28-73 years), and gender distribution was equal. During concept elicitation, fatigue was identified as the most prominent and impactful concept. It was the only concept mentioned by 100% of patients, and almost all (1L: 95%; R/R: 85%) mentioned it spontaneously without prompting. Fatigue had a high mean disturbance rating (1L: 7.1; R/R: 6.9). Seven fatigue-related sub-components were identified from the way that patients described their fatigue, covering symptoms (tiredness/need for sleep, lack of energy, weakness, cognitive fatigue) and impacts (decreased ability to maintain social/familial/professional role, decreased physical functioning, frustration). Mean (standard deviation) FACIT-Fatigue score was 28.9 (13.6) for patients with 1L CLL and 29.3 (11.5) for those with R/R CLL, indicating greater fatigue than the general population and providing further evidence that fatigue is a core component of CLL. The items that scored highest were: "I feel fatigued" (item 1; mean score: 2.4) and "I feel tired" (item 4; mean score: 2.4). The items that scored lowest were: "I am too tired to eat" (item 10; mean score: 0.4) and "I need help doing my usual activities" (item 11; mean score: 1.0). During cognitive debriefing, 100% of patients confirmed that the FACIT-Fatigue was reflective of their experiences with fatigue resulting from CLL. All patients found the response options provided by the FACIT-Fatigue to be sufficient. Patients confirmed that most of the FACIT-Fatigue terminology was clear. An exception was the item "I feel listless/washed out" (item 3), which was not consistently understood: most patients linked it to an absence of both physical and mental energy, but some interpreted it just as a lack of physical energy. Overall, patients considered the FACIT-Fatigue items to be relevant and distinct from each other, and found that the impact items captured both the mental and physical impacts of fatigue. One item, "I am too tired to eat", was not considered to be highly pertinent because, although respondents could imagine that some patients with CLL might be too tired to eat, they themselves could only recall being too tired to prepare a meal, not being too tired to eat. However, respondents felt that the item was still relevant and that it did not detract from the applicability or clarity of the FACIT-Fatigue. Conceptual relevance of the FACIT-Fatigue was supported by mapping of its items to the 7 fatigue-related sub-components identified during concept elicitation (Table). Conclusions: Results from concept elicitation and cognitive debriefing interviews demonstrated content validity of the FACIT-Fatigue in patients with CLL with 1L or R/R disease, thus providing evidence that it is fit-for-purpose in this population. Disclosures Chung: AstraZeneca: Employment, Equity Ownership. Eek:AstraZeneca: Employment, Equity Ownership. Eyre:Janssen: Honoraria; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: commercial research support; Abbvie: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria.
Background:A comprehensive conceptual model (CM) of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is required to help researchers understand patients’ unmet needs and direct future advancements in the field, particularly in developing patient‐centered endpoints to evaluate the benefits of new therapies within clinical trials.Aims:The current study aimed to create a CM of disease‐ and treatment‐related signs, symptoms and impacts in patients with first‐line (1L) or relapsed/refractory (R/R) CLL.Methods:The CM was based on literature searches, review of CLL patient blogs/forums, interviews with expert hematologists, and semi‐structured concept elicitation interviews with 40 patients with CLL (20 1L, 20 R/R; with fatigue, weight loss, fever, and/or night sweats in previous week). To identify salient concepts, the number of patients mentioning each concept and the concept's mean disturbance rating (from 0 [not at all] to 10 [very]) were mapped.Results:Literature searches identified 32 prevalent concepts, with the most common being fatigue/tiredness. Patient blogs/forums revealed further symptoms (muscle/joint aches, headaches, weakness) and impacts (stress, fear of death, uncertainty). Clinicians reported recurrent infections and enlarged lymph nodes as key signs of CLL and noted that fatigue is related to both symptoms (e.g. tiredness) and impacts (e.g. needing to rest and limit daily activities). In patient interviews, 50 concepts were revealed, with 42 present in both 1L and R/R; fatigue was the most prominent and impactful. Fatigue‐related sub‐concepts were identified, covering symptoms (tiredness/need for sleep, lack of energy, weakness, cognitive fatigue) and impacts (decreased ability to maintain social/familial/professional role, decreased physical functioning, frustration). Three versions of the CM were created: an overall model with all identified concepts, and two models highlighting the most salient concepts in 1L and R/R (Figure 1). Muscle/joint aches, night sweats, bruising, fatigue‐related symptoms, fever and recurrent infections/illness were salient symptoms in both 1L and R/R. Salient impacts in both 1L and R/R were fatigue‐related impacts, insomnia, decreased cognitive/emotional functioning, anxiety/worry, stress, depression, financial difficulty, and fear of death. Dyspnea and cough were salient in 1L only, and enlarged lymph nodes, headaches, pain/discomfort, weight loss, nausea/vomiting, and infusion reactions were salient in R/R only.Summary/Conclusion:The three versions of the CM can help to inform patient‐centered endpoints to evaluate new treatments for 1L and/or R/R CLL.image
e19001 Background: The study aimed to create a conceptual model (CM) of disease- and treatment-related signs, symptoms and impacts in patients with first-line (1L) or relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Methods: The CM was based on literature searches, review of CLL patient blogs/forums, interviews with expert hematologists, and semi-structured concept elicitation interviews with 40 patients with CLL (20 1L, 20 R/R; with fatigue, weight loss, fever and/or night sweats in previous week). To identify salient concepts, the number of patients mentioning each concept and the concept’s mean disturbance rating (from 0 [not at all] to 10 [very]) were mapped. Results: Literature searches identified 32 prevalent concepts, with the most common being fatigue/tiredness. Patient blogs/forums revealed further symptoms (muscle/joint aches, headaches, weakness) and impacts (stress, fear of death, uncertainty). Clinicians reported recurrent infections and swollen lymph nodes as key signs of CLL and noted that fatigue is related to both symptoms (e.g. tiredness) and impacts (e.g. needing to rest and limit daily activities). In patient interviews, 50 concepts were revealed, with 42 present in both 1L and R/R; fatigue was the most prominent and impactful. Fatigue-related sub-concepts were identified, covering symptoms (tiredness/need to sleep, lack of energy, weakness, cognitive fatigue) and impacts (decreased ability to maintain social/familial/professional role, decreased physical functioning, frustration). Three versions of the CM were created: an overall model with all identified concepts, and two models highlighting the most salient concepts in 1L and R/R. Muscle/joint aches, night sweats, bruising, fatigue-related symptoms, fever and recurrent infections/illness were salient symptoms in both 1L and R/R, as were impacts such as anxiety/worry, stress, depression, financial difficulty, and fear of death. Shortness of breath and coughing were salient in 1L only, and swollen lymph nodes, headaches, pain/discomfort, weight loss, nausea/vomiting, and infusion reactions were salient in R/R only. Conclusions: The three versions of the CM can help to inform patient-centered end points to evaluate new treatments for 1L and/or R/R CLL.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.