Novel Study to Assess Wave Health for Stem Cell Transplant Patients Delivers Promising Results and Valuable Real-World Data
Selected for oral abstract presentation at the 2024 Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Congress, promoting excellence in oncology nursing and the transformation of cancer care
Key performance metrics far surpass feasibility requirements for engaging these at-risk patients outside the clinical setting to minimize delays in symptom reporting
Interim analysis of study endpoints showcases new opportunities to positively impact the critical timeliness and efficiency of clinician assessments and treatment decisions
Washington, D.C. – Treatment Technologies & Insights (TTI), parent company of Wave Health, and the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester Medical Center announced interim results of a joint study: “Use of a Symptoms Tracking Mobile Health Application by Adult Recipients of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation (SCT) to Self-Monitor for Chronic Graft-versus-host Disease (cGVHD).”
Accepted for presentation at ONS Congress, the feasibility study aimed to determine if a customized version of the Wave Health mobile health app was feasible in and usable for self-monitoring and symptom reporting by SCT recipients at risk for cGVHD. A common post-SCT complication, cGVHD requires long-term symptom monitoring and threatens post-SCT survival and quality of life. The study emphasized consistent and intentional self-monitoring for early signs and symptoms of cGVHD, which can present unpredictably and vary in severity. This is important given the time gap between routine clinic follow ups in clinician assessments.
Fifteen study patients engaged with Wave Health over four weeks after a post-baseline clinic visit to track daily activities, mood and symptoms. In addition to onboarding and feedback surveys, patients completed four weekly symptom reviews over a period of one month. The app uses the NCI PRO-CTCAE 1.0 symptom severity 0-5 Likert scale where a 5 is “Very Severe.” The modified Wave Health app included common GVHD symptoms informed by the Lee Symptom Scale. Relevant symptom management content, and access to information about GVHD were also offered within the app.
Interim study results highlighted:
Feasibility – 88% of subjects used the app at least once a week, far surpassing the 50% benchmark. Further, 80% were active in the app all four weeks, and on average used the app three days per week.
Usability – 89% of subjects highly rated the app usability, including ease of use, helpfulness, relevance, and overall satisfaction, again surpassing the 50% study benchmark.
Wilmot’s Department of Nursing study principal investigator, Dr. Jamie Oliva said, “GVHD symptom onset is often difficult to know, subtle symptoms can be missed, and determining treatment response is challenging. These study findings showcase the opportunity to improve treatment response and guide crucial next steps in thinking about intervention opportunities.”
Co-investigator and Wilmot Chief Nursing Officer, Dr. Rhonda (KC) Knapp Clevenger added, “Patient engagement and education with specific symptom monitoring between scheduled clinic visits – captured at onset and in changes of severity level - offers tremendous objective data to aid clinical assessment. We look forward to continuing work in this area.”
TTI CEO Matt Lashey shared: “These results build on research we started at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center at the University of Washington centered on melanoma and kidney cancer patients, and most recently in a multi-center trial in Spain centered on prostate cancer patients. Wave Health is unparalleled in its experience to deliver impactful real-world data – to impact current protocols as well as longitudinal intelligence. To get this actionable data, you must first have the patient compliance, acceptance, retention, and satisfaction. Wave Health uniquely delivers all of these and has demonstrated similar HCP satisfaction and perceived impact.”
View the presentation slides here.
Wave Health
Rated the #1 highest quality mHealth application to track electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) for oncology patients, TTI’s full Wave Health platform also includes an HCP Portal, Wave Connect, and unique analytics engine. Recent results from another 8-center research study using the full tech platform were accepted for poster presentation at the 2024 ASCO GU conference - showcasing a rare 93% patient compliance and 98% HCP perceived usefulness.
The Wave Health technology enables patients to not only track a holistic treatment journey, but also elevate their health literacy through access to validated patient content as well as personal and global insights driven by backend analytics. Correspondingly, care and research teams can track and triage evolving symptoms – enabling intervention opportunities to impact patient quality of life and care costs.
