# Validation of a patient-based strategy for ambulatory monitoring of oncological pain by a mobile application

## TL;DR

This study shows that using a mobile app to monitor cancer pain at home is feasible and helps track patients' symptoms and medication use over time.

## Contribution

The study validates a mobile app for ambulatory monitoring of oncological pain and identifies factors influencing treatment adherence.

## Key findings

- Patients recorded pain and symptoms with 73.56% adherence using the Accompain app.
- Pain levels significantly decreased over 60 days of treatment.
- Physicians received an average of 2.53 alerts per week for patients with elevated pain or medication use.

## Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess clinical feasibility and patient adherence to recording pain, symptoms, and medication through the mobile application Accompain. Secondary outcomes included pain evolution, quality of life, pain interference, symptom progression, medication changes, and pain alerts. In this prospective clinical validation study, adult patients with cancer-related pain used a mobile device to log pain intensity, symptoms, and daily rescue medication. The system alerted clinicians to patients with elevated pain or a high number of rescue medications. Eighty-seven patients with different tumors were recruited (60.92% women; median age 63 years; range 27–94). Data recording adherence was 73.56%. Compared to baseline (5.49 ± 1.86), patients reported decreased pain 30 days (3.79 ± 2.48, p < .0001), 45 days (4.18 ± 2.42, p < .0001), and 60 days (3.82 ± 2.37, p < .0001) after starting treatment. Patients with localized tumors reported poorer health and quality of life than those with metastasis (p < .0001). Asthenia was the most frequent symptom. Daily rescue medication reporting increased at 46–60 days after inclusion (p < .01). Physicians received a mean of 2.53 ± 3.89 alerts per week during the study. Ambulatory pain monitoring is feasible and allows remote assessment of patients’ clinical status, which could improve pain management and overall care quality. In our study, gender and metastatic stage are the factors that most influence treatment adherence.