Digital biomarkers allow for continuous remote patient monitoring and will potentially change the way healthcare is provided and clinical trials are designed. We conducted a study to identify current preferences and interest in digital biomarkers in patients with advanced urological cancers.
We included 80 patients undergoing systemic therapy for advanced urologic malignancies at our institution. A questionnaire was developed to survey the current access to online information and digital technologies and to rate preferences on a scale from 1 (does not apply) to 5 (fully applies). Statistical analysis was performed by Chi-square test and unpaired t-test.
26% of the cohort presented with prostate cancer (PC), 38% with urothelial cancer (UC) and 36% with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). 69% of patients researched medical information about their disease online, 85% of PC patients, 72% of RCC patients, and 53% of UC respectively. 63% of all patients use smartphones and 9% wearables. Smartphone usage is most common in RCC patients (76%) followed by PC (66%) and UC (46%) patients while wearables are used by 7% of RCC, 5% of PC, and 13% of UC patients, respectively. In our cohort RCC patients are younger (Mean 63.3 years) than PC patients (Mean 69.3 years) and UC patients (Mean 68.3 years). The percentage of patients seeking information online and using smartphones or wearables is significantly higher in patients under the age of 75 (p < 0.05). With respect to the information generated by wearables, patients’ interest in activity data is significantly higher (3.5/5) than interest in sleeping profiles (2.5/5; p < 0.01). Patients are more likely to use wearables in clinical trials when they have access to the generated activity data (2.8/5) than using them without gaining access to the information (2.1/5; p < 0.01). Interest in wearable data and willingness to wear them as part of clinical trials are significantly higher for male gender (p < 0.01), and is independent of age and distance between home and the clinical trial site.
Our study demonstrates a high engagement of patients in digital technologies. Even though there is a lower penetration rate for digital technologies in older people, interest in digital biomarker data is high in regardless of age group.
Severin Rodler.
Has not received any funding.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.