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The prognostic role of WeChat-based instant doctor–patient communication in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

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Abstract

Background

Patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) need timely medical assistance since the emergence of complications due to the disease and antitumor treatment. Studies have confirmed that instant messaging can improve the quality of life and compliance of cancer patients. However, the prognostic role of instant doctor–patient communication based on instant messaging applications in PDAC has not been studied.

Methods

Patients with PDAC who received first-line chemotherapy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between January 2015 and October 2022 were reviewed. We categorized patients into two groups according to whether they received WeChat-based instant doctor–patient communication, and the prognosis and toxicity data between the two groups were compared.

Results

A total of 431 PDAC patients were enrolled, of whom 163 had long-term instant communication with their doctors based on WeChat, and 268 did not receive WeChat-based instant communication. There was no significant correlation between WeChat-based communication and first-line chemotherapy overall response rate (14.1% vs. 8.6%, p = 0.074), incidence of grade ≥ 3 adverse events (66.9% vs. 65.7%, p = 0.814) or overall survival (14.7 vs. 13.9 months, p = 0.170) in all enrolled patients. However, patients who received WeChat-based instant communication had a higher completion rate of first-line chemotherapy (42.0% vs. 30.7%, p = 0.023). Consistently, in the patients who developed grade ≥ 3 adverse events (n = 231), those who received WeChat-based instant communication had significantly longer overall survival (17.3 vs. 15.3 months, p = 0.018), even after adjustment for biases.

Conclusions

WeChat-based instant doctor–patient communication demonstrated no superiority in improving the efficacy of chemotherapy or preventing chemotherapy toxicity in PDAC patients, but it may contribute to improving the completion rate of chemotherapy and the prognosis in patients who experienced severe adverse events.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

Instant doctor‒patient communication may help to timely and appropriately deal with adverse events and prolong the survival time of patients with PDAC, supporting the promotion of mobile technology in clinical practice.

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All inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the help offered by Jingya Zhou from the Department of Medical Record of Peking Union Medical College Hospital for providing the data retrieving services through the Electronic Medical Record Analytical Database (PUMCH-EMERALD).

Funding

This study was supported by National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding (2022-PUMCH-D-001, 2022-PUMCH-A-213, 2022-PUMCH-A-126).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Hui Tang, Zhou Zhu, Jinrong Ying, Tingting You, Hui Ge, Yuejuan Cheng, Na Zhou, Wei Qiu, Yuping Ge, Yingyi Wang & Chunmei Bai

  2. 4+4 Medical Doctor Program, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Zhou Zhu

  3. Department of International Medical Services, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Ruixuan Geng

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  1. Hui Tang
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Contributions

HT, YW, and CB conceived the research. HT and ZZ carried out the literature search. HT, ZZ, JY, TY, HG, YC, NZ, WQ, and YG conducted data collection and analysis. HT and ZZ participated in data visualization. HT drafted the manuscript, and YC, YW, and CB reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the submitted version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yingyi Wang or Chunmei Bai.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (S-K2099) and carried out following the Helsinki Declaration on experimentation involving human subjects. Consent to participate and publication were not required due to the retrospective design and the anonymization of data.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Tang, H., Zhu, Z., Ying, J. et al. The prognostic role of WeChat-based instant doctor–patient communication in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. J Cancer Surviv (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-023-01429-7

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