Interventions Improve Symptom Controllability Among Patients With Recurrent Ovarian Cancers

Researchers identified an efficient and scalable intervention to improve symptom controllability and quality of life (QOL) among women with ovarian cancer with potential for implementation in clinical settings (J Clin Oncol. 2022; JCO2100656. doi:10.1200/JCO.21.00656).

This randomized controlled trial evaluated whether an 8-week web-based symptom self-management intervention (WRITE Symptoms), either facilitated by a nurse or fully computer-mediated, could improve symptom burden, symptom controllability, and QOL compared with enhanced usual care (EUC) among patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.

A total of 497 patients with recurrent or persistent ovarian, fallopian, or primary peritoneal cancer with 3 or more symptoms were included in the study. Patients completed baseline (BL) surveys (symptom burden and controllability and QOL) and were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Participants received EUC: monthly online symptom assessment with provider reports; online resources; and biweekly e-mails.

Groups were analyzed by time effects on symptom burden, controllability, and QOL, using repeated-measures modeling with linear contrasts. 

Among participants, the mean age was 59.3 ± 9.2 years, and 84% were receiving chemotherapy at baseline, reporting a mean of 14.2 ± 4.9 concurrent symptoms. Fatigue, constipation, and peripheral neuropathy were the most commonly reported symptoms. In each group, symptom burden and QOL improved significantly over time (P <.001).

A group by time interaction (P <.001) for symptom controllability revealed that WRITE intervention groups had similar improvements from BL to 8 and 12 weeks. EUC did not improve over time.

“Both WRITE Intervention groups showed significantly greater improvements in symptom controllability from BL to 8 and BL to 12 weeks compared with EUC,” concluded Dr Donovan and colleagues, adding, “There were no significant differences between Nurse-WRITE and SD-WRITE.”