The impact of COVID-19 on patient involvement in treatment decisions in the US and EU4+UK.

Abstract

e18758 Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many facets of the healthcare landscape. This study aims to assess the effect of COVID-19 on the evolution of patient involvement in cancer treatment decisions at different time points throughout the pandemic. Methods: The Ipsos COVID-19 Evolution study was run online from April to June 2022 with a total of 353 oncologists responding in the US and EU4+UK (US: 100, EU4+UK: 253). Each physician completed a demographic form and a questionnaire. The demographic form gathered information regarding specialty, practice type and volume of patients treated with anti-cancer drugs in an average month. The questionnaire collected information from physicians on patient workload, diagnosis/tumor characterization, patient management, patient treatment, personal attitude and events, and expectation in the next 6 months. Physicians were required to provide this information by referencing the different time points with regards to the pandemic including pre-pandemic, 1st peak, Delta/Omicron spread, current state and in the next 6 months. Results: Sampled physicians in the US reported an average of 50% of their managed patients involved in treatment decisions pre-pandemic, while the EU4+UK physicians reported an average of 45% of patients. This increased to 56% and 53% in US and EU4+UK, respectively, at the time of this study and was expected to increase further to 57% and 56%, respectively, in 6 months’ time. While most of the physicians reported an increase in the proportion of patients involved, physicians in the UK reported a drop at the 1st peak and Delta/Omicron spread compared to pre-pandemic (-1% and -3% respectively). Physicians in Germany reported the highest increase in the volume of patients being involved at the 1st peak of COVID-19 that quickly dropped during the Delta/Omicron spread (+18% and +6%, respectively). Physicians in Italy reported a much bigger change in the current state and predicted this to grow further in the next 6 months (+27% and +32%, respectively). Besides the recorded growth in the volume of patients involved in treatment decisions, the level of involvement has also increased from pre-pandemic. The average involvement score was 4.8 and 4.7 out of 7 in US and EU4+UK respectively pre-pandemic and grew to 5.2 and 5.0 at the 1st peak. This further increased to 5.6 and 5.8 at the time of this study. Conclusions: Results from this study highlighted participating physicians reported their patients to be more involved in their cancer treatment decisions compared to pre-pandemic levels and predicted more patients to become increasingly involved in the coming months. Further investigation into the continued impact of the pandemic on patient involvement and the benefits of patient participation would provide further insight into optimal ways to provide better treatment experiences through inclusivity. Further investigation using comparator cohort is warranted.