First validation of the supportive care score (SCC) scale: Alert scale for referral of solid cancer patients to supportive oncology team.

Abstract

e14025 Background: Patients’ needs are still underestimated during cancer course. The development of a simple and accessible screening tool to identify supportive care needs is an innovative approach to improve the cancer care pathway. Supportive Scale sCore (SCC) is a new tool developed to trigger alert in main need of supportive care such as social, nutritional, physical, pain or psychological disorders. This study aimed to develop and validate the SCC tool for detecting supportive care needs. Methods: The SCC, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS), a symptom scale and the EQ-5D (for Quality Of Life) was distributed to cancer patients over a week, in an ambulatory hospital of oncology department. The acceptability was assessed by the fill rate. The validity of alerts generated by the SCC scale was assessed by their consistency with ESAS and EQ-5D scores. Results: Hundred patients were included with an average age of 67,2 years. Acceptability was good with a fill rate of over 90%. For a-priori defined risk groups by SCC with alert or not, ESAS symptom score and QOL differed significantly (p < 0,05) between groups. We observed higher ESAS symptom scores in the alert group [nutritional alert: appetite: 4 (Standard Deviation SD 2,4) vs 0 (SD 1,6), p < 0,001; physical alert: fatigue: 4 (SD 1,7) vs 2 (SD 2,2) p < 0,001; psychological alert: depressed: 3,5 (SD 2,7) vs 0 (SD 1,5), p < 0,001; anxiety: 4 (SD 2,9) vs 0 (SD 1,5), p < 0,001; unwell-being: 4,5 (SD 2,7) vs. 0 (SD 1,5), p < 0,001]. Moreover, the QOL was poorer in each domain of EQ-5D in the alert group. [Social alert, self-care: 9,3% vs 0%, p = 0,02; usual activities: 25% vs 5,4%, p = 0,005. Physical alert, usual activities: 21,3% vs 2,6%, p = 0,008; mobility 29,5% vs 2,6%, p = 0,01. Pain alert, pain: 81,8% vs 11,9%, p < 0,001. Psychological alert, psychological: 56,3% vs 11,9%, p < 0,001]. Conclusions: The SCC seems to be a reliable instrument to detect cancer patients’ supportive care needs.