Clinical outcomes in patients with piperacillin/tazobactam-non-susceptible but ceftriaxone-susceptible E. coli or K. pneumoniae bloodstream infection.

BACKGROUND: A small proportion of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae demonstrate in vitro non-susceptibility to piperacillin/tazobactam but retain susceptibility to ceftriaxone. Uncertainty remains regarding how best to treat these isolates. OBJECTIVES: We sought to compare clinical outcomes between patients with piperacillin/tazobactam-non-susceptible but ceftriaxone-susceptible E. coli or K. pneumoniae bloodstream infection receiving definitive therapy with ceftriaxone versus an alternative effective antibiotic. METHODS: We retrospectively identified patients with a positive blood culture for piperacillin/tazobactam-non-susceptible but ceftriaxone-susceptible E. coli or K. pneumoniae between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2022. Patients were divided into one of two definitive treatment groups: ceftriaxone or alternative effective antibiotic. Our primary outcome was a composite of 90 day all-cause mortality, hospital readmission, or recurrence of infection. We used Cox proportional hazards models to compare time with the composite outcome between groups. RESULTS: Sixty-two patients were included in our analysis. Overall, median age was 63 years (IQR 49.5-71.0), the most common source of infection was intra-abdominal (25/62; 40.3%) and the median total duration of therapy was 12.0 days (IQR 9.0-16.8). A total of 9/22 (40.9%) patients in the ceftriaxone treatment group and 18/40 (45.0%) patients in the alternative effective antibiotic group met the composite endpoint. In an adjusted time-to-event analysis, there was no difference in the composite endpoint between groups (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.30-1.50). The adjusted Bayesian posterior probability that the HR was less than or equal to 1 (i.e. ceftriaxone is as good or better than alternative therapy) was 85%. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that ceftriaxone can be used to effectively treat bloodstream infections with E. coli or K. pneumoniae that are non-susceptible to piperacillin/tazobactam but susceptible to ceftriaxone.

The relationship between emotional well-being and understanding of prognosis in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

PURPOSE: Adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) face considerable distress and often have a poor prognosis. However, little is known about these patients' perceptions of prognosis and how this relates to emotional well-being (EWB). METHODS: We conducted a prospective, observational study of 50 adult patients with AML initiating chemotherapy, and surveyed them longitudinally for 6 months about their prognosis, treatment goals, quality of life, and EWB (by FACT-G). We derived a prognostic estimate for each patient based on data from published trials summarized in National Comprehensive Care Network Guidelines. We used descriptive statistics and longitudinal modeling to test the hypothesis that more accurate prognostic awareness is associated with worse EWB. RESULTS: Most patients (n = 43; 86%) had an objectively poor prognosis attributable to relapsed disease, complex karyotype, or FLT3 mutation. Yet, 74% of patients reported expecting a 50% or greater chance of cure. Patients with a poor prognosis more often had discordant prognostic estimates, compared to those with favorable risk AML (OR = 7.25, 95% CI 1.21, 43.37). Patient-reported prognostic estimates did not vary significantly over time. At baseline, patients who better understood their prognosis had worse EWB and overall quality-of-life scores (EWB 12 vs. 19.5; p = 0.01; FACT-G 65 vs. 75.5; p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Patients with AML overestimate their prognosis, and awareness of a poor prognosis is associated with worse emotional well-being. Efforts are needed to improve patients' understanding of their prognosis, and to provide more psychosocial support and attention to well-being as part of high-quality leukemia care.

Patient-reported distress as an early warning sign of unmet palliative care needs and increased healthcare utilization in patients with advanced cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Cancer patients' sources of distress are often unaddressed, and patient-reported distress data could be utilized to identify those with unmet and impending care needs. We explored the association between moderate/severe distress and healthcare utilization in a large sample of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Adult patients treated between July 2013 and March 2019. Data from the NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT) and the accompanying "Problem List" were extracted from the EHR. A DT score of ≥ 4 indicates "actionable distress." Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive analysis for patient characteristics, clinical outcomes, and sources of distress. Generalized linear mixed models were fit to determine the relationship between distress and healthcare utilization (hospitalization, emergency department (ED) visit, or both). RESULTS: The ten most frequently reported problems were from the Physical and Emotional domains of the Problem List. Distress was mostly related to physical symptoms (pain, fatigue) and emotional issues (worry, fears, sadness, nervousness). Patients with actionable distress generally reported more problems across all their visits. Actionable distress was associated with higher odds of the composite outcome measure of hospitalization or visiting the ED, within both the next 3 months (OR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.19, 1.58; p < 0.001) and 6 months (OR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.03, 1.37; p = 0.019). CONCLUSION: Patients with significant distress had marked utilization of ED and inpatient services. DT scores are a source of untapped data in the EHR that can highlight patients in need of intervention, including palliative care and cancer support services.

Parental limited English proficiency in pediatric stem cell transplantation: Clinical impact and health care utilization.

BACKGROUND: Limited English proficiency (LEP) is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. The clinical impact of LEP in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) has not been studied. The objectives of this study were to compare HSCT outcomes and health care utilization of Hispanic pediatric patients with and without parental LEP. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of Hispanic/Latino pediatric patients receiving HSCT at a single institution. Families were identified as LEP or English proficient (EP) based on clinicians' notes, social work documentation, or the signature of a Spanish interpreter on treatment consents. RESULTS: A total of 83 Hispanic/Latino patients were identified with 53 (65.1%) having parental LEP. More patients in the LEP group had a documented financial burden at pretransplant psychosocial evaluation (72.2% vs. 41.4%, p = .009). LEP patients were more likely to have health insurance coverage through government-sponsored Medicaid (76.9% vs. 27.6%, p < .001). LEP patients were hospitalized on average 13 days longer than EP patients, and LEP patients were more likely to have pretransplant cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivity (67.3%) than EP patients (p = .001). Overall survival was lower in LEP than EP, but was not statistically significant (p = .193). Multivariable Cox modeling suggested a potentially higher risk of death in LEP versus EP (hazard ratio = 1.56, 95% CI: 0.38, 6.23). CONCLUSIONS: Parental LEP in HSCT is associated with prolonged hospitalization and pretransplant CMV reactivity. These factors are associated with posttransplant complications and death. Our results suggest parental LEP is a risk factor for poor HSCT outcomes. Further study is warranted in a larger cohort.

The patient experience of ABVD treatment in Hodgkin lymphoma: a retrospective cohort study of patient-reported distress.

PURPOSE: Psychological distress is prevalent in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Many patients, regardless of prognosis, receive ABVD chemotherapy as first-line treatment, but few studies have specifically examined the nature of distress during this shared treatment experience. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of patient-reported distress in HL patients receiving ABVD treatment at a single tertiary care facility. Distress was measured using the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer and Problem List (PL). We used descriptive statistics and generalized estimating equations to assess the prevalence of distress and specific problem items during treatment and associations with patient- and disease-related factors. RESULTS: We collected data from 50 patients comprising 467 unique encounters, with 369/467 (79.0%) reporting a distress thermometer score. Median distress score was 2 (IQR: 0-5), but actionable distress (distress thermometer ≥4) was noted for 118/369 (32.0%) encounters. Actionable distress was only related to having a prior cancer, which conferred lower odds of actionable distress (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.07-0.74, p=0.01) Physical and emotional problems were reported for 287/369 (77.8%) and 125/369 (33.9%) visits, respectively. Female patients had greater odds of both physical (OR 3.17, 95% CI 1.32-7.66, p=0.01) and emotional (OR 3.31, 95% CI 1.25-8.73, p=0.02) problems. CONCLUSION: ABVD treatment is associated with a high frequency of actionable distress, with physical and emotional problems acting as primary drivers. Female patients may be particularly vulnerable, while cancer survivors may be uniquely resilient. These findings demonstrate the need to thoroughly screen for and appropriately tailor distress management strategies for HL patients during treatment with ABVD.

A novel decision aid for acute myeloid leukemia: a feasibility and preliminary efficacy trial.

PURPOSE: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematologic malignancy characterized by a poor prognosis but also a paradoxical possibility of cure. This renders decision-making complex and imminent. Unfortunately, many patients with AML misestimate their prognosis and treatment risk. While decision aids can improve illness understanding and reduce decisional conflict, there are no validated decision aids for AML. We developed and tested a novel AML decision aid (NCT03442452). METHODS: Patients (n = 20) were recruited at Duke University from May 2018 to February 2019. Participants completed assessments of AML knowledge and decisional conflict, before and after using the electronic decision aid. The primary endpoint was feasibility (endpoint met if > 80% of study participants completed all study components). Secondary analyses of efficacy were conducted using paired t tests for dependent pre-/post-samples. RESULTS: The primary endpoint of feasibility was met (100% of participants completed all study components). Secondary analyses showed improved knowledge and reduced decisional conflict after using the decision aid. Knowledge scores improved from a mean of 11.8 (out of 18) correct items at baseline to 15.1 correct items after using the decision aid (mean difference 3.35; p < 0.0001). Decisional conflict scores reduced significantly from baseline to post-test as well (mean difference - 6.5; p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that our AML decision aid is a useful tool to improve the patient experience and promote shared decision-making in AML. A randomized efficacy trial is planned.

An analysis of missing items in real-world electronic patient reported outcomes data: implications for clinical care.

PURPOSE: Utilization of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) in the clinic can improve quality of life and prolong survival in cancer care. However, there remain unanswered questions regarding trends in missing data and the potential effect on real-time patient care. METHODS: This study utilized a prospectively collected dataset of ePROs from oncology clinics that administered the Patient Care Monitor 2.0 (PCM), a validated symptoms survey assessing 78 items for men, and 86 for women. We tabulated the frequency of missing items, by item and domain (emotional, functional and physical symptom-related), and examined these by age, gender, education, race and marital status. RESULTS: Within 20,986 encounters, there were responses to at least 1 PCM item from 6933 unique patients. The highest frequency of missing answers occurred for: "attend a paid job" (10.7%), "reduced sexual enjoyment" (3.8%), and "run" (3.7%). By domain, 12.3% of functional, 8.4% of physical symptom-related, and 1.6% of emotional constructs contained at least one missing item. For functional and physical symptom-related items, missingness was most common in patients >60 years old. CONCLUSION: The frequency of missingness was highest for functional items, like attending a paid job, suggesting that some respondents (e.g., retirees without a paid job) skipped questions that were less applicable to them. More universal issues for cancer patients, such as emotional well-being, had much lower frequencies of missingness. This suggests differential item completion that warrants further study to understand the inherent drivers. Identifying causes of missingness could improve the clinical utility of ePROs and highlight opportunities to personalize care.

Patient-reported distress in Hodgkin lymphoma across the survivorship continuum.

PURPOSE: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors face long-term, elevated risk of treatment-related sequelae, including psychosocial distress associated with poor health outcomes. The magnitude and sources of distress are not well described in the routine care of HL outside of clinical trials. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients visiting a tertiary-care center for treatment or long-term follow-up of HL. Patient-reported distress was documented using the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer (DT) and Problem List. Three survivor groups were compared using descriptive methods: on treatment, surviving < 5 years, and surviving ≥ 5 years since diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of 1524 DT were abstracted for 304 patients (106 on treatment, 77 surviving < 5 years, and 121 surviving ≥ 5 years). Distress was low overall (median DT = 1, inter-quartile range 0-4) and was similar across survivor groups. However, actionable distress (score ≥ 4) was reported at 29.5% of clinical encounters. Patients on treatment more frequently reported actionable distress (32.5% of visits) compared with patients surviving < 5 years (20.4%) and ≥ 5 years (28.7%) (P = 0.065). Distress was associated primarily with physical and emotional problems, especially fatigue, worry, and sleep. We did not observe any associations between distress and clinical prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Distress burden is low in HL, but survivorship is marked by periods of actionable distress, largely related to physical symptoms and emotional issues. This burden may be higher when on treatment and is unrelated to disease-related prognostic factors. Survivorship research typically focuses on the post-therapy period, but our results support testing the efficacy of interventions to address distress in HL during active treatment as well.

Associations between expression levels of nucleotide excision repair proteins in lymphoblastoid cells and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide, and nucleotide excision repair (NER) is involved in SCCHN susceptibility. In this analysis of 349 newly diagnosed SCCHN patients and 295 cancer-free controls, we investigated whether expression levels of eight core NER proteins were associated with risk of SCCHN. We quantified NER protein expression levels in cultured peripheral lymphocytes using a reverse-phase protein microarray. Compared with the controls, SCCHN patients had statistically significantly lower expression levels of ERCC3 and XPA (P = 0.001 and 0.001, respectively). After dividing the subjects by controls' median values of expression levels, we found a dose-dependent association between an increased risk of SCCHN and low expression levels of ERCC3 (adjusted OR, 1.75, and 95% CI: 1.26-2.42; Ptrend = 0.008) and XPA (adjusted OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.35-2.60; Ptrend = 0.001). We also identified a significant multiplicative interaction between smoking status and ERCC3 expression levels (P = 0.014). Finally, after integrating demographic and clinical variables, we found that the addition of ERCC3 and XPA expression levels to the model significantly improved the sensitivity of the expanded model on SCCHN risk. In conclusion, reduced protein expression levels of ERCC3 and XPA were associated with an increased risk of SCCHN. However, these results need to be confirmed in additional large studies.

Development and validation of a rapid, aldehyde dehydrogenase bright-based cord blood potency assay.

Banked, unrelated umbilical cord blood provides access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients lacking matched bone marrow donors, yet 10% to 15% of patients experience graft failure or delayed engraftment. This may be due, at least in part, to inadequate potency of the selected cord blood unit (CBU). CBU potency is typically assessed before cryopreservation, neglecting changes in potency occurring during freezing and thawing. Colony-forming units (CFUs) have been previously shown to predict CBU potency, defined as the ability to engraft in patients by day 42 posttransplant. However, the CFU assay is difficult to standardize and requires 2 weeks to perform. Consequently, we developed a rapid multiparameter flow cytometric CBU potency assay that enumerates cells expressing high levels of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH bright [ALDH(br)]), along with viable CD45(+) or CD34(+) cell content. These measurements are made on a segment that was attached to a cryopreserved CBU. We validated the assay with prespecified criteria testing accuracy, specificity, repeatability, intermediate precision, and linearity. We then prospectively examined the correlations among ALDH(br), CD34(+), and CFU content of 3908 segments over a 5-year period. ALDH(br) (r = 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76-0.79), but not CD34(+) (r = 0.25; 95% CI, 0.22-0.28), was strongly correlated with CFU content as well as ALDH(br) content of the CBU. These results suggest that the ALDH(br) segment assay (based on unit characteristics measured before release) is a reliable assessment of potency that allows rapid selection and release of CBUs from the cord blood bank to the transplant center for transplantation.

Automated thawing increases recovery of colony-forming units from banked cord blood unit grafts.

BACKGROUND: The cell dose infused for cord blood transplantation strongly correlates with outcomes following transplantation. Post thaw recoveries can be improved by washing cord blood units (CBUs) in dextran/albumin. Early methods used a labor-intensive manual process. We have recently developed and validated an automated washing method. We now report our results of a study comparing cellular recoveries achieved after manual and automated wash, as well as the impact on engraftment following allogeneic transplantation. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: CBUs distributed by the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank for clinical use at Duke University after manual or automated wash were included in this report. Precryopreservation total nucleated cell count, total CD34+, colony-forming units, recoveries, and sterility were analyzed by wash method. Patient age, cell dose/weight, diagnosis, conditioning regimen, immunosuppression, and time to neutrophil engraftment were also analyzed. RESULTS: Manual and automated washed CBUs yielded similar total nucleated cell count and total CD34+ recoveries. Significantly higher colony-forming units recoveries were achieved after automated washing. Patients who received CBUs washed via an automated method experienced earlier neutrophil engraftment. CONCLUSION: While manual and automated washing achieved similar post thaw cellular recoveries, automated washed CBUs demonstrated higher colony-forming unit recovery, which is an important predictor of potency and engraftment. Furthermore, we demonstrated that automated washing was associated with earlier neutrophil engraftment. Our findings favor the use of an automated wash method over a manual approach.

Patient-Reported Distress in Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Its Association With Clinical Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: NCCN defines distress as a multifactorial, unpleasant emotional experience of a psychological nature that may interfere with patients' ability to cope with cancer symptoms and treatment. Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are at risk for distress due to the largely incurable nature of this hematopoietic malignancy and its symptom burden, yet associations with clinical outcomes are unknown. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patient-reported distress data from adult ambulatory patients with MDS visiting a single, tertiary care medical center from July 2013 to September 2015. Demographic, diagnostic, treatment, and comorbidity information were abstracted from records along with NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT) and Problem List (PL) scores. Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: We abstracted 376 DT scores (median, 1; range, 0-10) from 606 visits and 110 patients (median, 2 DT scores/patient; range, 1-16). NCCN Guidelines suggest that patients with DT scores ≥4 should be evaluated for referral to specialty services to address unmet needs. A total of 54 patients (49%) had at least 1 DT score ≥4 and 20 (18%) had 2 or more DT scores ≥4; 98 patients (89.1%) reported 1,379 problems during 23,613 person-days of follow-up (median, 4 problems/patient/visit; range, 1-23). The 5 most frequently reported problems were fatigue (181 times; 78 patients), pain (95 times; 46 patients), worry (80 times; 45 patients), sleep (78 times; 41 patients), and tingling hands/feet (68 times; 33 patients). After adjustment for risk stratification at diagnosis, a single point increase on the DT was associated with an increased risk of death (hazard ratio, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.01-1.36). Conclusions: Patients with MDS experience a high burden of distress, and patient-reported distress is associated with clinical outcomes. Distress should be further studied as a prognostic variable and a marker of unmet needs in MDS.

Reduced mRNA expression of nucleotide excision repair genes in lymphocytes and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) plays a critical role in the development of smoking-related cancers. We hypothesize that mRNA expression levels of NER genes are associated with risk of the squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN). To test this hypothesis, we conducted a case-control study of 260 SCCHN patients and 246 cancer-free controls by measuring the mRNA expression levels of eight core NER genes in cultured peripheral lymphocytes. Compared with the controls, cases had statistically significantly lower expression levels of DDB1 and ERCC3 (P = 0.015 and 0.041, respectively). Because DDB1 and ERCC3 expression levels were highly correlated, we used DDB1 for further multivariate analyses and modeling. After dividing the subjects by controls' quartiles of expression levels, we found an association between an increased risk of SCCHN and low DDB1 expression levels [adjusted ORs and 95% CIs: 1.92 and 1.11-3.32, 1.48 and 0.85-2.59, 2.00 and 1.15-3.45 for the 2nd-4th quartiles, respectively, compared with the 1st quartile; Ptrend = 0.026]. We also identified a multiplicative interaction between sex and DDB1 expression levels (P = 0.007). Finally, the expanded model with gene expression levels, in addition to demographic and clinical variables, on SCCHN risk was significantly improved, especially among men. In conclusion, reduced DDB1 expression levels were associated with an increased risk of SCCHN. However, these results need to be validated in larger studies.

Durable Chimerism and Long-Term Survival after Unrelated Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation for Pediatric Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: A Single-Center Experience.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening disorder of immune dysregulation characterized by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenias, central nervous system disease, increased inflammatory markers, and hemophagocytosis. Currently, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only curative approach for patients with HLH, with reported survival ranging from 50% to 70% with myeloablative conditioning (MAC) regimens. However, donor availability and transplantation-related mortality associated with conventional MAC are major barriers to success. Unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) provides a readily available alternative donor source for patients lacking matched related donors. Accordingly, we report the results of UCBT in 14 children treated between 1998 and 2016. All children received standard HLH chemotherapy before UCBT. The median age at diagnosis was 2.7 months (range, .8 to 10.4) and at transplantation was 7.5 months (range, 3.8 to 17). Ten patients received MAC with busulfan/cyclophosphamide/etoposide /antithymocyte globulin (ATG) (n = 5), busulfan/cyclophosphamide /ATG (n = 4), or busulfan /melphalan/ATG (n = 1). Four patients received reduced-toxicity conditioning (RTC) with alemtuzumab/fludarabine/melphalan/hydroxyurea ± thiotepa. Cord blood units were mismatched at either 1 (n = 9) or 2 (n = 5) loci and delivered a median total nucleated cell dose of 11.9 × 107/kg (range, 4.6 to 27.9) and CD34+ dose of 3.1 × 105/kg (range, 1.1 to 6.8). The cumulative incidence of neutrophil engraftment by day 42 was 78.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 42.9% to 93.4%) with a median of 19 days (range, 13 to 27), and that for platelet (50,000) engraftment by day 100 was 64.3% (95% CI, 28.2% to 85.7%) with a median of 51 days (range, 31 to 94). Six patients developed either grade II (n = 5) or grade IV (n = 1) acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD); no extensive chronic GVHD was seen. Ten patients (71.4%) are alive and well at a median of 11.2 years after transplantation (range, .85 to 18.25), 9 of whom maintain sustained full donor chimerism after a single UCBT, whereas 1 patient with autologous recovery after first UCBT with RTC has achieved full donor chimerism after a second UCBT with MAC. This series demonstrates that, in combination with standard HLH therapy, UCBT after MAC or RTC conditioning can provide long-term survival with durable complete donor chimerism comparable to that of conventional donors. UCBT should be considered for patients with HLH lacking a fully matched related or unrelated adult donor.

Knowledge of Palliative Care and Barriers to Access Among Outpatients with Cancer.

CONTEXT: Palliative Care (PC) is poorly understood by laypersons. However, little is known about what ambulatory patients with cancer understand about PC or what barriers to access exist. METHODS: Outpatients undergoing cancer treatment completed a survey evaluating their familiarity and knowledge of PC, Palliative Care Knowledge Scale (PaCKS), feelings towards PC (before and after reading a definition of PC), barriers to PC, and prognostic understanding. We summarized responses descriptively and used logistic regression models to examine variables associated with familiarity and interest. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 32%. Of 151 participants, 58.9% reported familiarity with PC. The average PaCKs score was 11.9 out of 13 (standard deviation, 1.4), with 46.4% receiving a perfect score, indicating high knowledge of PC. Patients diagnosed more than one year ago had significantly increased odds of being familiar with PC (OR 2.93; 95% CI 1.37-6.25). More participants reported future interest in PC compared to current interest (74.2% vs 44.4%, respectively). Patients with stage III or IV cancer had significantly increased odds of having a current interest in receiving PC compared to patients with stage I or II disease (OR 2.66; 95% CI: 1.05, 6.76). Participants reported feeling significantly less anxious and more reassured after reading a standardized definition of PC (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Outpatients with cancer who are being treated at a large academic cancer center exhibit high awareness and knowledge of PC, but anxiety toward PC persists. Factors beyond knowledge may perpetuate the delayed or lack of involvement with PC. KEY MESSAGE: In this cross-sectional study of outpatients with cancer, findings suggest that high knowledge of PC may co-exist with a lingering uneasiness towards the service. Additionally, factors beyond knowledge, such as logistic barriers, anxiety, and oncologists' preference may be perpetuating the delay or lack of involvement in PC.

Methods for building a staff workforce of quantitative scientists in academic health care.

Collaborative quantitative scientists, including biostatisticians, epidemiologists, bio-informaticists, and data-related professionals, play vital roles in research, from study design to data analysis and dissemination. It is imperative that academic health care centers (AHCs) establish an environment that provides opportunities for the quantitative scientists who are hired as staff to develop and advance their careers. With the rapid growth of clinical and translational research, AHCs are charged with establishing organizational methods, training tools, best practices, and guidelines to accelerate and support hiring, training, and retaining this staff workforce. This paper describes three essential elements for building and maintaining a successful unit of collaborative staff quantitative scientists in academic health care centers: (1) organizational infrastructure and management, (2) recruitment, and (3) career development and retention. Specific strategies are provided as examples of how AHCs can excel in these areas.

Institutional approaches to preventing questionable research practices.

Questionable research practices (QRP) are actions taken by researchers that span a range of concern related to violation of research best practices, and ultimately expose institutions and research participants to risk. Numerous studies have shown that QRP are common. The continued prevalence of QRP indicates that existing approaches for dealing with QRP are falling short. In this editorial we discuss the risks associated with QRP and propose mitigation strategies at the institutional level using a common QRP as an example, questionable treatment of subgroup analyses. We argue that the need for institutional intervention in cases such as this are particularly motivating when both the investigator and the institution have a substantial financial conflict of interest related to intellectual property that requires the investigator's expertise to continue developing. To address this, we propose an expansion of the traditional conflict of interest management process.

Comparing ability and norm-referenced scores as clinical trial outcomes for neurodevelopmental disabilities: a simulation study.

BACKGROUND: For genetic conditions associated with neurodevelopmental disorder (GCAND), developmental domains such as motor ability, thinking and learning, social abilities, and communication are potential intervention targets. Performance on measures of developmental concepts can be expressed using several types of scores. Norm-referenced scores are intended for the diagnostic context, allowing for the identification of impairment relative to age-based expectations, and can exhibit dramatic floor effects when used in individuals with more significant limitations. Person ability scores, which are derived via Rasch analysis or item response theory, are available on many standardized tests and are intended to measure within-person change. However, they have not been used or evaluated as primary endpoints in GCAND clinical trials. In this study, we simulated a series of parallel-arm clinical trials under several chronological age and impairment conditions, to compare empirically the power and type I error rate of operationalizing test performance using ability scores rather than norm-referenced scores. RESULTS: Using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales as the example, we demonstrated an advantage in statistical power of ability scores over norm-referenced scores at extreme levels of impairment. This advantage was at least partially driven by floor effects in norm-referenced scores. For simulated conditions where impairment was less severe, ability scores outperformed norm-referenced scores, but they were more similar. The type I error rate closely approximated the nominal type I error rate of 5% for both scores. CONCLUSION: The results of this simulation demonstrate a substantial power and interpretative advantage of ability scores over norm-referenced scores for studies of GCAND that will enroll participants with high levels of impairment. These results are expected to generalize to studies of developmental concepts, regardless of the etiology or specific test. However, the relative advantage of ability scores is expected to be even greater for tests with a higher floor than the Vineland.

Treatment Effect Estimates From Pilot Trials Are Unreliable.

CONTEXT: The CONSORT guideline defines a pilot trial as a small-scale version of a desired future efficacy trial that is intended to answer the key questions of whether and how a larger study should be done. For example, a pilot trial might evaluate different approaches to data collection or outcome measurement. However, pilot trials are unreliable for assessing treatment efficacy due to the statistical phenomenon called sampling variability. OBJECTIVES: In this tutorial we use computer simulation to demonstrate the influence of sampling variability on efficacy estimates from pilot trials, illustrating why pilot trial designs should not be used to evaluate whether a treatment is promising or not. METHODS: We simulate a 2-arm parallel group trial (N=20 per group) with a survival outcome as an example. Simulations are done under two scenarios: 1) the treatment is efficacious at the level of a hypothetical minimum clinically important difference (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.75); and 2) the treatment is not efficacious (HR=1). RESULTS: As expected, in both simulated scenarios the range of observed results is distributed around the true treatment effect, HR=0.75 or HR=1. Importantly, ∼20% of trials simulated under scenario 1 incorrectly suggest the treatment may be harmful (HR > 1). Under scenario 2, half of the simulated studies incorrectly suggest the treatment is beneficial. CONCLUSION: Treatment effect estimates from pilot trials should not be used to make future development decisions regarding a novel therapy because of the high risk of misleading conclusions.

Automated Video Tracking of Autistic Children's Movement During Caregiver-Child Interaction: An Exploratory Study.

Objective, quantitative measures of caregiver-child interaction during play are needed to complement caregiver or examiner ratings for clinical assessment and tracking intervention responses. In this exploratory study, we examined the feasibility of using automated video tracking, Noldus EthoVision XT, to measure 159 2-to-7-year-old autistic children's patterns of movement during play-based, caregiver-child interactions and examined their associations with standard clinical measures and human observational coding of caregiver-child joint engagement. Results revealed that autistic children who exhibited higher durations and velocity of movement were, on average, younger, had lower cognitive abilities, greater autism-related features, spent less time attending to the caregiver, and showed lower levels of joint engagement. After adjusting for age and nonverbal cognitive abilities, we found that children who remained in close proximity to their caregiver were more likely to engage in joint engagement that required support from the caregiver. These findings suggest that video tracking offers promise as a scalable, quantitative, and relevant measure of autism-related behaviors.