Patient-reported outcomes with a personalized follow-up program after lung cancer resection: A single-center randomized controlled trial

Objective This study aims to determine the impact of PROM with a personalized follow-up program on the evaluation of quality of life and self-management for patients after lung cancer resection. Methods Given a formal power calculation a total of 240 patients with lung cancer. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control groups. Patients in the experimental group received a personalized follow-up program of patient-reported outcomes. The control group received only the telephone follow-up. Baseline data (T0) were collected before the intervention (on the day of discharge), and quality of life, self-efficacy, and compliance were measured at 2 weeks (T1), 4 weeks (T2), and 4 months (T3) post-discharge. Results The difference in quality of life between the experimental and control groups was significant (Wald χ 2 = 5.204, P = 0.023), with the experimental group showing significantly better quality of life at T2 compared to the control group ( t = 2.515, P = 0.013). Both groups showed improvements in quality of life at all post-test time points (Wald χ 2 = 574.167, P < 0.001), and the interaction between group and time was not statistically significant (Wald χ 2 = 2.354, P =0.308). Regarding self-management efficacy, Generalized Estimating Equations results indicated a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (Wald χ 2 = 6.573, P = 0.010), with the experimental group showing significantly higher self-management efficacy at T2 and T3 compared to the control group ( t = 3.024, P = 0.003; t = 2.214, P = 0.028). No significant differences were observed at T0 and T1. Both groups showed improvements in self-management efficacy at all post-test time points (Wald χ 2 = 301.390, P < 0.001), and the interaction between group and time was not statistically significant (Wald χ 2 = 3.971, P = 0.137). Conclusions For patients after lung cancer surgery, the program has optimized the evaluation of postoperative quality of life and self-management efficacy. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (NCT06483295).