Longitudinal Assessment of Communication With Patient-Reported Outcomes During Lung Cancer Screening.

BACKGROUND

Many organizations recommend clinicians use structured communication processes, referred to as shared decision-making, to improve patient-reported outcomes for patients considering lung cancer screening (LCS).

RESEARCH QUESTION

Which components of high-quality patient-centered communication are associated with decision regret and distress?

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted a prospective, longitudinal, repeated measures cohort study among patients undergoing LCS in three different health care systems. We surveyed participants using validated measures of decision regret, decision satisfaction, distress, and patient-clinician communication domains up to 1 year after the low-dose CT (LDCT) imaging for LCS. For longitudinal analyses, we applied a series of generalized estimating equations to measure the association of the patient as person communication domain, screening knowledge, and decision concordance with decision regret and distress.

RESULTS

When assessed 2 to 4 weeks after the LDCT imaging, 202 respondents (58.9%) and eight respondents (2.3%) of 343 total respondents reported mild and moderate or severe decision regret, respectively, whereas 29 respondents (9.2%) of 315 total respondents reported mild distress and 19 respondents (6.0%) reported moderate or greater distress. The mean ± SD decision satisfaction scores (scale, 0-10) were 9.82 ± 0.89, 9.08 ± 1.54, and 6.13 ± 3.40 among those with no, mild, and moderate or severe regret, respectively. Distress scores remained low after the LDCT imaging, even among those with nodules. Patient-centered communication domains were not associated with decision regret or distress.

INTERPRETATION

Our findings show that patients undergoing LCS rarely experience moderate or greater decision regret and distress. Although many participants reported mild decision regret, most were very satisfied over the 1 year after LDCT imaging for LCS. Communication processes were not associated with regret and distress, suggesting that it may be challenging for communication interventions to reduce the harms of LCS.