Identifying patient profiles and mapping the patient journey across three countries in a large-scale, fully digital survey of patients with prostate cancer.

Abstract

16 Background: A survey of patients with prostate cancer (PCa) was conducted to map their experiences, expectations and attitudes, and to identify challenges and unmet needs in diagnosis, therapy patterns, care teams, quality of life (QoL), patient organizations and resources. Here, we describe the initial survey results and explore differences in diagnosis and therapy patterns between 3 countries. Methods: Don’tBePatient Intelligence conducted a large survey in patients with non-metastatic (M−) and metastatic (M+) PCa in Germany (DE), the UK and the US from Feb 9–Apr 10, 2021 in collaboration with patient organizations and medical experts. Recruitment was through social media advertising and patient organizations. Data were evaluated using descriptive and advanced statistics. Results: Of 33,882 survey starters, 15,824 completed, split 50.1%/49.9% in rural/urban areas. In DE/US, diagnosis through healthcare screening was more frequent than in the UK (M−/M+: DE 77%/58%; UK 42%/21%; US 77%/63%) where a higher percentage of symptomatic diagnosis was recorded (M−/M+: DE 18%/39%; UK 49%/75%; US 12%/31%). Prostatectomy was the predominant therapy in M− PCa in DE/US (71%/57%). In the UK, radiotherapy was slightly more frequent than prostatectomy (48% vs. 41%) and active surveillance was more common than in DE/US (14% vs. 6%/9%). Hormone therapy was the most common therapy in M+ PCa in all countries (DE 65%; UK 77%; US 73%). Chemotherapy was received by < 2% of patients with M− PCa in all countries but was more frequent in M+ PCa in the UK than DE/US (38% vs. 21%/27%; table). Satisfaction levels were generally high (> 80%) for all therapies in all countries. Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the largest digital survey conducted in patients with PCa, allowing identification of unmet needs in the patient journey. Preliminary data suggest that rates of screening are lower in the UK than DE/US; this may correlate with the higher rate of symptomatic and potentially later-stage diagnosis, highlighting the role of routine screening. Relatively low active surveillance rates in DE/US may reflect a lower likelihood of men with M− versus M+ PCa to respond to the survey. Further analyses will include impact of differences in patient journey, trust in healthcare professionals, access to information, involvement with patient advocacy groups and QoL. [Table: see text]