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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Jul;14(14):e71053.
doi: 10.1002/cam4.71053.

Factors Associated With Self-Report Symptom Screening Adherence in Pediatric Cancer Patients

L Lee Dupuis  1   2 , Emily Vettese  1 , Catherine Aftandilian  3 , Vibhuti Agarwal  4 , Christina Baggott  3 , Scott M Bradfield  5 , Nicole Crellin-Parsons  1 , David R Freyer  6 , Kara M Kelly  7 , Allison A King  8   9 , Wade Kyono  10 , Ramamoorthy Nagasubramanian  4 , Etan Orgel  6 , Michael E Roth  11 , Farha Sherani  12 , Lolie Yu  13 , Allison C Grimes  14 , Melissa P Beauchemin  15 , Lisa M Klesges  8 , George A Tomlinson  16 , Lillian Sung  1   17
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Factors Associated With Self-Report Symptom Screening Adherence in Pediatric Cancer Patients

L Lee Dupuis et al. Cancer Med. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Objective was to describe the association between baseline characteristics and the number of Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool (SSPedi) assessments completed over an 8-week period.

Methods: This was a sub-analysis of a cluster randomized controlled trial among 10 sites that were randomized to the intervention group. Participants were English- or Spanish-speaking pediatric patients 8-18 years of age newly diagnosed with cancer. Participants were prompted to complete SSPedi three times weekly for 8 weeks. The outcome was the number of SSPedi assessments completed during the 8-week period. Factors associated with the number of assessments were determined using mixed effects Poisson regression.

Results: At the 10 intervention sites, 216 patients were included in the analysis. Among these participants, 129 (59.7%) were male, 112 (51.9%) were white, and 83 (38.4%) were Hispanic. The number of SSPedi assessments was significantly higher for participants 11-14 years (rate ratio (RR) 1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.25) and 15-18 years (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.04-1.27) compared to 8-10 years. Participants completed more SSPedi assessments if they were Asian compared to white (RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.10-1.46), non-Hispanic compared to Hispanic (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.04-1.28) and from families with a household income ≥$60,000 (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.03-1.21). Participants completed fewer SSPedi assessments if they had solid tumors compared to leukemia (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.84-0.99).

Conclusion: Adherence to three-times weekly SSPedi varied by age, race, ethnicity, cancer diagnosis, and family income. This information may facilitate interventions to support routine symptom screening in clinical practice.

Trial registration: NCT04614662.

Keywords: adherence; oncology; pediatric; symptom screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

The following authors declare conflicts of interest: E.O. consults with Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Bar graph showing number of SSPedi assessments completed. SSPedi, Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Number of SSPedi assessments completed by site compared to the average. SSPedi, Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Relationship between number of SSPedi assessments and Baseline Total SSPedi Score. SSPedi, Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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