Predictors and impact of survivorship care plans and survivorship care visits

• Published in: Journal of cancer survivorship Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 836 - 843
• Main Authors: Saiganesh, Harish, Duffy, Christine, Chrysanthopoulou, Stavroula A., Dizon, Don S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-06-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Bivariate analysis; Breast cancer; Cancer Survivors - statistics & numerical data; Demographics; Demography; Female; Females; Health Informatics; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Life span; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - mortality; Neoplasms - therapy; Oncology; Patient Care Planning; Population studies; Primary Care Medicine; Prostate cancer; Public Health; Quality of Life Research; Referral and Consultation - statistics & numerical data; Retrospective Studies; Survival; Survivorship; Survivorship care plan; Visit; Distress thermometer
• ISSN: 1932-2259; 1932-2267
• DOI: 10.1007/s11764-023-01334-z

Purpose
We performed this study to characterize the population at the Lifespan Cancer Institute (LCI) who received a survivorship care plan (SCP) with or without a survivorship care visit (SCV) to determine both the impact on specialty referrals and the demographic and clinical predictors of SCPs and SCVs.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed EMR records on 1960 patients at LCI between 2014 and 2017 for SCPs and SCVs and extracted demographics, distress thermometer (DT) scores collected at the time of initial presentation, and subsequent referrals. We evaluated the bivariate associations of SCP and SCV with continuous and categorical factors and assessed the adjusted effect of these factors on receipt of SCP and SCV independently. All analyses were performed in R v4.0.2.
Results
SCPs were completed in 740 (37.8%) patients, and of those, 65.9% had a SCV. The mean age was 63.9, 67% were female, and 51.2% were married or partnered. Patients treated for breast, lung, and prostate cancers most received an SCP. Compared to SCP alone, the SCV was associated with more specialty referrals. Those who were younger and had breast cancer were more likely to receive a SCP, and those who were younger and female and had breast cancer were more likely to receive a SCV.
Conclusions
Gender, age, and type of cancer are significant predictors of receipt of SCP and SCV. Patients who received either SCP, SCV, or both were more likely to receive specialty referrals than those who received neither.
Implications for Cancer Survivors.
Identifying predictive factors of SCP and SCV can help facilitate earlier receipt of specialty services and specialty referrals as needed.