Kerri Fitzgerald

DocwireNews

A study found that the use of emojis to express patient-reported outcomes (PROs) for cancer correlated well to traditional PRO assessments.
<h2>Emoji Study Design</h2>
Between February and August 2017, researchers enrolled 296 adult patients diagnosed within the past five years with lymphoma, myeloma, brain, pancreatic, breast, and ovarian cancer. Patients had a life expectancy of more than six months and owned an iPhone 5.0 or newer. All participants received an <a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/docwire-pick/future-of-medicine-picks/apple-watch-partners-with-zimmer-biomet-in-surgical-recovery-study/">Apple Watch</a> and were randomized into three groups for mode of survey response: paper, iPhone, and Watch.
Weekly survey response rates were 60% in the Watch group, 76% in the paper group, and 77% in iPhone group. There was a strong association between the emoji ordinal scale and linear analog self-assessments: -0.80 for fatigue, 0.70 for physical well-being, 0.68 for emotional well-being, and 0.75 for overall quality of life (P&lt;0.001 for all). Response rates decreased overtime for all patients.
&#8220;The scale works really well, and that&#8217;s one of the things we wanted to determine was, is this a valid scale,&#8221; <a href="https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-how-emojis-help-cancer-treatment-research/">said</a> study author Carrie Thompson, MD, a hematologist at Mayo Clinic. &#8220;Is this something that is scientifically proven to say what we think patients are trying to say? And we found that it did, and it works very, very well.&#8221;
<h2>Emoji Results</h2>
The researchers concluded that collecting <a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/conference-coverage/acr-conference-coverage/questions-to-consider-when-collecting-patient-generated-data/">PROs</a> via <a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/future-of-medicine/fda-launches-mystudies-app-allowing-users-to-enroll-in-studies/">mobile technology</a> is feasible, Apple Watch activity data is significantly associated with PROs, and emoji scales are a promising tool.
&#8220;Medicine has gotten so complicated,&#8221; said Thompson. &#8220;So to have something that&#8217;s simple that breaks down the barriers of communication, healthy literacy, language, financial status – we all know emojis. We all know what various faces mean.&#8221;
During the presentation, neuro-oncologist Martin J. Taphoorn, MD, of Haaglanden Medical Center, The Hague, the Netherlands, said that greater awareness of how patients are doing could not only have a meaningful impact on doctor-patient relations but “increase health-related quality of life” and “even help survival.” Using modern technology to facilitate these conversations, he said, is &#8220;very important, because we know that people may find it difficult to answer so many questions.&#8221;
Thompson’s team successfully proved “a positive association between the activity of the patients in terms of a better functioning and symptoms in these patients,” Taphoorn added.
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Source: <a href="https://meetinglibrary.asco.org/record/158434/abstract">ASCO</a>

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A study found that the use of emojis to express patient-reported outcomes (PROs) for cancer correlated well to traditional PRO assessments. ...

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