Assessing the correlation between patient and family reported outcome measures and multiple myeloma clinical parameters

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is characterized by multifaceted symptoms stemming from the disease itself, treatment complications, and involvement of various organs. MM significantly impacts the lives of patients and caregivers. This study aims to assess Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Family Reported Outcome Measures (FROMs) alongside conventional evaluation tools. A quantitative, prospective, observational study was conducted involving active MM patients. Participants completed PROMs/FROM-16 questionnaires quarterly for 12 months. Spearman correlation analysis was employed to explore associations between PROMs/FROM-16 and disease evaluation parameters. Friedman's test and Wilcoxon's test compared mean PROMs/FROM-16 scores at study onset with the following months. A better disease evaluation correlated with improvements in reported disease symptoms or treatment side effects by patients and with a reduced burden reported by caregivers (FROM-16). Additionally, favorable results in calcium levels, renal insufficiency, anemia, and bone lesions (CRAB) were associated with higher PROMs scores and less impact on caregivers. Moreover, patient PROMs scores reflected caregiver challenges and their ability to cope with the patient's illness. Most of the domains in PROMs demonstrated improvement, especially- quality of life, disease symptoms, body image scale, and future perspective, which improved 6 points that were defined in previous studies as minimal important difference. Finally, the results of our study showed that the total FROM-16 score improved from a mean score of 14.95 to 10.86 between the third month of the study, compared to the sixth month of the study, i.e., higher than 4, the minimal important change as defined in a previous study. This study underscores the utility of PROMs/FROM-16 in evaluating patient status from their perspective, facilitating tailored treatment approaches. It emphasizes the necessity of further research into the caregiver's experience with MM.