Patients’ self-management of adverse events and patient-reported outcomes in advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with targeted therapies: A prospective, longitudinal, observational study

Abstract

Background: Early intervention to reduce the impact of adverse events (AEs) may improve patients’ quality of life and enable optimal treatment duration. Methods: This nationwide, multicenter, prospective, longitudinal, 1-year observational study investigated patients’ self-management of AEs associated with targeted therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and explored corresponding outcomes, including treatment duration and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Results: We enrolled 77 advanced RCC patients (mean age 62 years) treated with a first targeted therapy. 210 cases of seven AEs of interest (fatigue, hand-foot syndrome, oral mucosal inflammation, diarrhea, gastrointestinal symptoms, hypertension, and anorexia) were observed. Most AEs were mild to moderate. Overall, 63.4% of patients were identified as managing their AEs well, reporting numerically longer treatment duration and significantly higher PRO scores than patients identified as poor managers. Conclusions: Longer treatment duration and improved PROs were observed when advanced RCC patients managed targeted therapy-associated AEs well. Repeated education for consolidating AE self-management could be considered to enhance overall treatment outcomes.