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The PERSONS score: A new tool for cancer patients’ symptom assessment in simultaneous care and home care settings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2019

Alessio Cortellini Open the ORCID record for Alessio Cortellini [Opens in a new window] ,
Giampiero Porzio ,
Vincenza Cofini ,
Stefano Necozione ,
Alessandro Parisi ,
Flaminia Peris ,
Giulio Ravoni ,
Giuseppe Spinelli ,
Eva K. Masel  and
Anna S. Berghoff
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Alessio Cortellini*
Affiliation:
Medical Oncology Unit, San Salvatore Hospital, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Giampiero Porzio
Affiliation:
Medical Oncology Unit, San Salvatore Hospital, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Vincenza Cofini
Affiliation:
Biostatistics and Epidemiology Unit, Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Stefano Necozione
Affiliation:
Biostatistics and Epidemiology Unit, Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Alessandro Parisi
Affiliation:
Medical Oncology Unit, San Salvatore Hospital, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Flaminia Peris
Affiliation:
Tuscany Tumors Association, Home Care Service, Florence, Italy
Giulio Ravoni
Affiliation:
Tuscany Tumors Association, Home Care Service, Florence, Italy
Giuseppe Spinelli
Affiliation:
Tuscany Tumors Association, Home Care Service, Florence, Italy
Eva K. Masel
Affiliation:
Clinical Division of Palliative Care, Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Anna S. Berghoff
Affiliation:
Clinical Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Corrado Ficorella
Affiliation:
Medical Oncology Unit, San Salvatore Hospital, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Lucilla Verna
Affiliation:
Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
*
Corresponding author: Alessio Cortellini, MD Medical Oncology Unit, St. Salvatore Hospital Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila Via Vetoio, 67100, L'Aquila, Italy. Email: alessiocortellini@gmail.com
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Abstract

Background

Scientific societies recommend early interaction between oncologic and supportive care, but there is still a lack of systematic evaluations regarding symptoms from the perspective of oncologists.

Patients and methods

The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the PERSONS score, in both “simultaneous care” and “supportive care” settings using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) as a comparator.

Results

From November 2017 to April 2018, 67 and 110 consecutive patients were enrolled in outpatient and home care cohorts, respectively. The final study population comprised 163 patients. There were no significant changes over time in the total PERSONS scores and total ESAS scale. The intra-interviewer reliability (ICC2,1) and inter-interviewer reliability (ICC2,k) showed good reproducibility (test-retest) in each group of patients: 0.60 (0.49–0.70) and 0.82 (0.75–0.87), respectively, for the home care patients and 0.73 (0.62–0.81) and 0.89 (0.83–0.93), respectively, for the outpatient cohort. There were high correlations between PERSONS and ESAS, both at the baseline and final assessments. The mean PERSONS and ESAS scores between the home care patients and outpatients were not different at the baseline and final assessments. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve for the PERSONS total score revealed good diagnostic ability. Area under the curve (AUC) was 0.825 and 0.805 for improvement and deterioration, respectively.

Conclusions

The PERSONS score is an easy to apply tool for symptom assessment. Importantly, the PERSONS score showed high concordance with the established ESAS scale and, therefore, provides an alternative for everyday use in supportive care assessment.

Keywords

Simultaneous carepalliative caresymptoms assessmentPERSONSESAS
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 33 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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