A randomised controlled trial comparing completeness of responses of three methods of collecting patient-reported outcome measures in men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the study was to compare completeness, timeliness and cost of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) collection using telephone, email and post in men with prostate cancer.


METHODS
A parallel, three-arm randomised controlled equivalence trial. 1168 patients were randomised to telephone (n = 295), postal (n = 388) and email (n = 385) arms. Participants were asked to provide self-reported responses for 26 items of Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite. Cost and resource data were collected from a provider perspective.


RESULTS
Equivalence tests showed no difference in completeness in the three arms within a 10% equivalence margin. Men diagnosed in public hospitals were less likely to complete the survey compared to those in private hospitals, OR = 0.19 (95% CI 0.04-0.89) (p = 0.035). The email survey required significantly less time to complete than telephone and postal methods [median time of 2 min (IQR 1,8) vs. 7 min (IQR 6,9) vs. 10 min (IQR 9,12), respectively (p < 0.001)]. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio for email compared to telephone was AUD$1.90, cost-effective if users valued an additional 1% improvement in survey completion greater than AUD$1.90.


CONCLUSION
Email method took less time and cost and should be used as the primary PROMs collection, with telephone if men without email or do not respond to email.
['Hoque|Dewan Md Emdadul|DME|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8219-9196', 'Earnest|Arul|A|', 'Ruseckaite|Rasa|R|', 'Lorgelly|Paula|P|', 'Sampurno|Fanny|F|', 'Evans|Melanie|M|', 'Evans|Sue M|SM|']
D000368:Aged D003625:Data Collection D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D000071066:Patient Reported Outcome Measures D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms D011788:Quality of Life D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Randomised controlled trial Patient-reported outcomes Telephone Email Postal Data collection methods Intention to treat