Pain monitoring app leads to less pain in children with cancer at home: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Mené aux Pays-Bas sur 94 patients pédiatriques atteints d'un cancer (âge moyen : 7,5 ans), cet essai randomisé évalue l'intérêt d'une application de prise en charge de la douleur au domicile pour réduire la sévérité et la durée de la douleur et améliorer le bien-être psychique des parents

Résumé en anglais

Background: The authors developed a pain monitoring app offering educational information, and real-time health care professional feedback on clinically significant pain (>4 numeric rating scale [NRS]-11) for children with cancer to reduce pain at home.

Methods: This monocenter, nonblinded randomized controlled trial enrolled Dutch children (0–18 years old) receiving cancer treatment (≥3 months after diagnosis, ≥2 months treatment remaining). Children were randomly assigned to use the app or receive usual care (two parallel groups). We assessed whether use of the app yielded less clinically significant pain (aim 1) and whether it affected pain severity, duration, interference, pain management strategies, and parental emotional well-being (aim 2). The app was also evaluated by families (aim 3).

Results: A total of 94 children were randomized to use the app (15 drop-outs), and 90 were to receive care as usual (11 drop-outs). The app group (n = 79, mean age: 7.5 [5.1] years, 48% girls, 63% hemato-oncology diagnosis) reported significantly less clinically significant pain compared to usual care (n = 79, mean age: 7.5 [5.4] years, 52% girls, 65% hemato-oncology diagnosis) (odds ratio [OR], 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.198–0.734]) (aim 1), as well as significantly lower pain severity (