Born in Bradford's Age of Wonder cohort: protocol for adolescent data collection.

Background: Adolescence and transition into adulthood are periods shaping life-long mental health, cardiometabolic risk, and inequalities. However, they are poorly studied and understood. By extending and expanding the Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort study through this period using innovative, co-produced approaches to collect and analyse data, we aim to understand better the interplay of factors that influence health and wellbeing, and inform/evaluate interventions to improve them and reduce inequalities. Protocol: BiB Age of Wonder (AoW) is a large, whole city cohort that will capture the contemporary lived experience amongst multi-ethnic adolescents progressing into young adulthood. We will collect repeated data from existing BiB participants and their peers (N~30,000 adolescents). The protocol for the first phase of the quantitative methods, involving survey measurements and health assessments in mainstream secondary schools is described here. We describe the co-production behind these methods, and lessons learned from the first year of data collection.

Born in Bradford have been following the health and wellbeing of over 13,000 Bradford children since they were born. This group of children are now in their teenage years ­ a time that is crucial for their future mental and physical health. Age of Wonder aims to capture this journey through adolescence and early adulthood with up to 30,000 young people in Bradford over 7 years. In the first phase of this project, data collection is taking part in secondary schools in Bradford. This protocol describes how this data collection is currently being carried out in the schools. Young people aged 12-15 are being asked to complete questionnaires, covering topics such as mental and physical health. These topics have been designed with groups of young people, schools and other partners, to make sure we are capturing data on the things most important to young people. Those in Year 9 (13-14 years old), are also asked to take part in physical health measurements such as height, weight, blood pressure and a blood sample, as well as computer-based assessments of cognition (memory), movement and language. There have been a number of lessons learned from the first full year of data collection, such as how to make the research as easy as possible for schools to take part in when they have so many competing demands on their time.

Integrating patient reported outcomes with clinical cancer registry data: a feasibility study of the electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes From Cancer Survivors (ePOCS) system.

BACKGROUND: Routine measurement of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) linked with clinical data across the patient pathway is increasingly important for informing future care planning. The innovative electronic Patient-reported Outcomes from Cancer Survivors (ePOCS) system was developed to integrate PROs, collected online at specified post-diagnostic time-points, with clinical and treatment data in cancer registries. OBJECTIVE: This study tested the technical and clinical feasibility of ePOCS by running the system with a sample of potentially curable breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer patients in their first 15 months post diagnosis. METHODS: Patients completed questionnaires comprising multiple Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) via ePOCS within 6 months (T1), and at 9 (T2) and 15 (T3) months, post diagnosis. Feasibility outcomes included system informatics performance, patient recruitment, retention, representativeness and questionnaire completion (response rate), patient feedback, and administration burden involved in running the system. RESULTS: ePOCS ran efficiently with few technical problems. Patient participation was 55.21% (636/1152) overall, although varied by approach mode, and was considerably higher among patients approached face-to-face (61.4%, 490/798) than by telephone (48.8%, 21/43) or letter (41.0%, 125/305). Older and less affluent patients were less likely to join (both P<.001). Most non-consenters (71.1%, 234/329) cited information technology reasons (ie, difficulty using a computer). Questionnaires were fully or partially completed by 85.1% (541/636) of invited participants at T1 (80 questions total), 70.0% (442/631) at T2 (102-108 questions), and 66.3% (414/624) at T3 (148-154 questions), and fully completed at all three time-points by 57.6% (344/597) of participants. Reminders (mainly via email) effectively prompted responses. The PROs were successfully linked with cancer registry data for 100% of patients (N=636). Participant feedback was encouraging and positive, with most patients reporting that they found ePOCS easy to use and that, if asked, they would continue using the system long-term (86.2%, 361/419). ePOCS was not administratively burdensome to run day-to-day, and patient-initiated inquiries averaged just 11 inquiries per month. CONCLUSIONS: The informatics underlying the ePOCS system demonstrated successful proof-of-concept--the system successfully linked PROs with registry data for 100% of the patients. The majority of patients were keen to engage. Participation rates are likely to improve as the Internet becomes more universally adopted. ePOCS can help overcome the challenges of routinely collecting PROs and linking with clinical data, which is integral for treatment and supportive care planning and for targeting service provision.

Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS) interventional birth cohort study: Interim cohort profile.

Background: The Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS) interventional birth cohort study was designed as an innovative cohort platform for efficient evaluation of early life interventions delivered through the Better Start Bradford programme. There are a growing number of interventional cohorts being implemented internationally. This paper provides an interim analysis of BiBBS in order to share learning about the feasibility and value of this method. Methods: Recruitment began in January 2016 and will complete in December 2023 with a target sample of 5,000 pregnancies. An interim analysis was completed for all pregnancies recruited between January 2016 and November 2019 with an expected due date between 1 st April 2016 and 8 th March 2020. Descriptive statistics were completed on the data. Results: Of 4,823 eligible pregnancies, 2,626 (54%) pregnancies were recruited, resulting in 2,392 mothers and 2,501 children. The sample are representative of the pregnant population (61% Pakistani heritage; 12% White British; 8% other South Asian and 6% Central and Eastern European ethnicity). The majority of participants (84%) live in the lowest decile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation, and many live in vulnerable circumstances. A high proportion (85%) of BiBBS families have engaged in one or more of the Better Start Bradford interventions. Levels of participation varied by the characteristics of the interventions, such as the requirement for active participation and the length of commitment to a programme. Conclusions: We have demonstrated the feasibility of recruiting an interventional cohort that includes seldom heard families from ethnic minority and deprived backgrounds. The high level of uptake of interventions is encouraging for the goal of evaluating the process and outcomes of multiple early life interventions using the innovative interventional cohort approach. BiBBS covers a period before, during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which adds scientific value to the cohort.

Discussion of emotional and social impact of cancer during outpatient oncology consultations.

OBJECTIVE: Following publication of national guidelines on detection and management of psychosocial problems in oncology, this study explores frequency of discussion of emotional and social issues in outpatient oncology consultations. METHODS: Analysis of baseline data from 212 outpatients participating in a randomized controlled trial. Baseline data included content analysis of audio recordings of consultations, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) questionnaire subscale scores, and patient and clinician self-rated preferences and perceptions of communication. RESULTS: Fifty-nine percent patients and 75% clinicians expressed preferences to discuss emotional issues during consultations. Analysis of audio recordings showed that they were discussed in 27% of the consultations, regardless of severity of emotional problems reported by patients (FACT-G Emotional well-being subscale). Fifty percent of clinicians reported discussing emotional issues 'often' or 'almost always', compared with 18% of patients. Forty-four percent patients and 39% clinicians reported that they would discuss social activities, but they were actually discussed in 46% of consultations. Patients predominantly initiated discussion of emotional and social issues (85 and 60% consultations, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Low prevalence of discussion of psychosocial issues cannot be accounted for by patient or clinician communication preferences. If clinicians rely on patients to initiate discussion of psychosocial issues, patients' problems may go unaddressed.

Feasibility test of a UK-scalable electronic system for regular collection of patient-reported outcome measures and linkage with clinical cancer registry data: the electronic Patient-reported Outcomes from Cancer Survivors (ePOCS) system.

BACKGROUND: Cancer survivors can face significant physical and psychosocial challenges; there is a need to identify and predict which survivors experience what sorts of difficulties. As highlighted in the UK National Cancer Survivorship Initiative, routine post-diagnostic collection of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) is required; to be most informative, PROMs must be linked and analysed with patients' diagnostic and treatment information. We have designed and built a potentially cost-efficient UK-scalable electronic system for collecting PROMs via the internet, at regular post-diagnostic time-points, for linking these data with patients' clinical data in cancer registries, and for electronically managing the associated patient monitoring and communications; the electronic Patient-reported Outcomes from Cancer Survivors (ePOCS) system. This study aims to test the feasibility of the ePOCS system, by running it for 2 years in two Yorkshire NHS Trusts, and using the Northern and Yorkshire Cancer Registry and Information Service. METHODS/DESIGN: Non-metastatic breast, colorectal and prostate cancer patients (largest survivor groups), within 6 months post-diagnosis, will be recruited from hospitals in the Yorkshire Cancer Network. Participants will be asked to complete PROMS, assessing a range of health-related quality-of-life outcomes, at three time-points up to 15 months post-diagnosis, and subsequently to provide opinion on the ePOCS system via a feedback questionnaire. Feasibility will be examined primarily in terms of patient recruitment and retention rates, the representativeness of participating patients, the quantity and quality of collected PROMs data, patients' feedback, the success and reliability of the underpinning informatics, and the system running costs. If sufficient data are generated during system testing, these will be analysed to assess the health-related quality-of-life outcomes reported by patients, and to explore if and how they relate to disease, treatment and/or individual differences characteristics. DISCUSSION: There is currently no system in the UK for collecting PROMs online and linking these with patients' clinical data in cancer registries. If feasible, ePOCS has potential to provide an affordable UK-scalable technical platform to facilitate and support longitudinal cohort research, and improve understanding of cancer survivors' experiences. Comprehensive understanding of survivorship difficulties is vital to inform the development and provision of supportive services and interventions.

Process mining routinely collected electronic health records to define real-life clinical pathways during chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: There is growing interest in the use of routinely collected electronic health records to enhance service delivery and facilitate clinical research. It should be possible to detect and measure patterns of care and use the data to monitor improvements but there are methodological and data quality challenges. Driven by the desire to model the impact of a patient self-test blood count monitoring service in patients on chemotherapy, we aimed to (i) establish reproducible methods of process-mining electronic health records, (ii) use the outputs derived to define and quantify patient pathways during chemotherapy, and (iii) to gather robust data which is structured to be able to inform a cost-effectiveness decision model of home monitoring of neutropenic status during chemotherapy. METHODS: Electronic Health Records at a UK oncology centre were included if they had (i) a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer and received adjuvant epirubicin and cyclosphosphamide chemotherapy or (ii) colorectal cancer and received palliative oxaliplatin and infusional 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy, and (iii) were first diagnosed with cancer between January 2004 and February 2013. Software and a Markov model were developed, producing a schematic of patient pathways during chemotherapy. RESULTS: Significant variance from the assumed care pathway was evident from the data. Of the 535 patients with breast cancer and 420 with colorectal cancer there were 474 and 329 pathway variants respectively. Only 27 (5%) and 26 (6%) completed the planned six cycles of chemotherapy without having unplanned hospital contact. Over the six cycles, 169 (31.6%) patients with breast cancer and 190 (45.2%) patients with colorectal cancer were admitted to hospital. CONCLUSION: The pathways of patients on chemotherapy are complex. An iterative approach to addressing semantic and data quality issues enabled the effective use of routinely collected patient records to produce accurate models of the real-life experiences of chemotherapy patients and generate clinically useful information. Very few patients experience the idealised patient pathway that is used to plan their care. A better understanding of real-life clinical pathways through process mining can contribute to care and data quality assurance, identifying unmet needs, facilitating quantification of innovation impact, communicating with stakeholders, and ultimately improving patient care and outcomes.

Skeletal complications and survival in renal cancer patients with bone metastases.

Skeletal metastases occur in around one third of patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Skeletal involvement is commonly an aggressive, lytic process which causes substantial morbidity through skeletal complications and occurrence of skeletal related events (SREs). However, compared with bone metastases in breast and prostate cancer, there is a paucity of data relating to the demographics of bone metastases in RCC and their sequelae in terms of SREs and survival. The study population included all patients (N=803) with advanced or metastatic RCC treated in a tertiary centre serving a regional population of 2.6 million between 1998 and 2007. Demographic and survival data and information relating to metastatic disease were extracted from electronic records. Thirty-two percent (N=254) of the study population presented with (N=131) or later developed (N=123) bone metastases and 83% of these (N=210) also developed metastases elsewhere. The mean number of SREs experienced by the bone metastatic patients over the course of their disease was 2.4 and only 37 patients experienced no SRE. A high proportion of patients (80%) received radiotherapy for bone pain and there was a surprising and strikingly high incidence of spinal cord/nerve root compression, which was experienced by 28% patients. Although bisphosphonate use increased following the availability of zoledronic acid in 2004, approximately 50% patients with bone metastases did not receive bisphosphonate treatment. The skeletal morbidity rate (number of SREs per patient years at risk) was 1.0 and 1.4 for patients who received or did not receive bisphosphonates, respectively. The median survival following diagnosis of RCC was similar in patients who developed bone metastases (20.4 months) and those who did not (20.9 months). Median survival from diagnosis of metastases was 13.3 months for those who never developed bone metastases, 10.6 months for those who presented with them, 19.6 months for those who developed them later and 22.6 months for patients who had bone only metastases. This is the largest study to date focusing specifically on skeletal complications in RCC. A striking finding was the high incidence of spinal cord/nerve root compression and more research into this area is needed. Clearer, internationally accepted guidelines are recommended for the management of this patient group.

Screening for psychological distress in palliative care: performance of touch screen questionnaires compared with semistructured psychiatric interview.

This study examined the criterion validity of computer-based screening tools (Distress Thermometer [DT], Brief Symptom Inventory-18 [BSI-18], and General Health Questionnaire-12 [GHQ-12]) in detecting any form of psychological distress in palliative care patients, compared with a semistructured psychiatric interview, Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). Patients aged 18 years or older referred to specialist palliative care services in Leeds completed the computer-based screening tools before SCAN interview by psychiatrists who were blind to screening results. SCAN interviews generated International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) psychiatric diagnoses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis compared the performance of screening tools with SCAN interview in identifying cases of distress. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and area under the curve (AUC) were calculated. Of the 226 eligible patients during the study period, 174 consented and 150 completed the study. Fifty-one (34%) patients satisfied ICD-10 criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis, adjustment disorder being the most common one (22%). On ROC analysis, DT, BSI-18, and GHQ-12 showed an AUC of 0.729, 0.729, and 0.755, respectively. At optimum cutoff values, sensitivity and specificity were 0.77 and 0.59 for DT, 0.78 and 0.62 for BSI-18, and 0.77 and 0.61 for GHQ-12, respectively. These data indicate that more than one-third of palliative care patients experience psychological distress. The three touch screen-based screening tools performed equally well in identifying distress compared with a psychiatric interview. The single-item DT is as good as longer screening tools, with an optimum cutoff of 5 in this population. Depressive disorders may be rarer in this population than commonly thought, in comparison to adjustment disorders.