Evidence mapPaperPMID 36258654Full record

Trial reportCancer medicine2023

Mobile application to support oncology patients during treatment on patient outcomes: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial.

Ilana Graetz, Xin Hu, Andrea N Curry, Andrew Robles, Gregory A Vidal, Lee S Schwartzberg

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldFull text readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Cancer medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04331678 (Evaluation of a Mobile App to Promote Social Support for Oncology Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.2field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT04331678 nacompletednot on this map

Evaluation of a Mobile App to Promote Social Support for Oncology Patients

TypeinterventionalSponsorWest Cancer CenterRan2020 to 2021Enrolled230ConditionsChemotherapy EffectArmsComparator App
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Effectiveness of mobile-based monitoring system (ONKOSIS) in the management of chemotherapy-related symptoms: a randomized controlled trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Ilana GraetzDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3664-5815
Xin HuDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1097-3300
Andrea N CurryWest Cancer Center and Research Institute, Germantown, Tennessee, USA.
Andrew RoblesDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Gregory A VidalWest Cancer Center and Research Institute, Germantown, Tennessee, USA.
Lee S SchwartzbergRenown Institute for Cancer, Reno, Nevada, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7433-3428
Emory University · USWest Cancer Center · USRenown Health · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCancer treatment requires substantial demands on patients and their caregivers. Mobile apps can provide support for self-management during oncology treatment, but few have been rigorously evaluated.

methodsA 3-month randomized controlled trial was conducted at a large cancer center to evaluate the efficacy of an app (LivingWith®) that provides self-management support during cancer treatment on quality of life and health care utilization. Patients in chemotherapy treatment were randomized into the intervention (n = 113) and control group (n = 111). Intervention group participants agreed to use the app weekly for 3 months, and all participants completed a survey at enrollment and after 3 months to evaluate changes in quality of life and health care utilization.

resultsRetention rate was 75.4% with 169 participants completing the follow-up survey. The intervention group reported 0.74 fewer medical office visits (p = 0.043) and 0.24 fewer visits with a mental health professional (p = 0.061) during the 3 and month intervention compared with controls. There were no significant changes by study group in quality of life, or emergency room and urgent care visits. Among intervention participants, 75.3% reported using the app and on average, used it 11.7 times during the 3-month intervention. Reasons for not using the app among intervention participants included lack of time, lack of interest in apps, and usability challenges. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Apps are inexpensive and scalable tools that can provide additional support for individuals coping with complex cancer treatments. This trial provides evidence that a well-designed oncology support app used during chemotherapy resulted in fewer clinic visits. Still, nearly a quarter of participants randomized to the intervention arm reported never using the app due to personal preference and usability challenges, which points to future opportunities for calibrating target user population and improving user-centered design. CLINICALTRIALS: gov identifier: NCT04331678.

Indexed as

Mobile ApplicationsNeoplasmsAmbulatory CareHumansMedical OncologyQuality of Lifecancer treatmentchemotherapymobile healthrandomized control trialself-management support

Identifiers

PMID36258654
PMCPMC10028030
OpenAlexW4306765262

What Socratic holds

Textfull text, public
LicenceCC BY
measurements read46
identifiers read1
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.