Patients’ self-management of adverse events and patient-reported outcomes in advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with targeted therapies: A prospective, longitudinal, observational study

Background Early intervention to reduce the impact of adverse events (AEs) may improve patients’ quality of life and enable optimal treatment duration. Methods This nationwide, multicenter, prospective, longitudinal, 1-year observational study investigated patients’ self-management of AEs associated with targeted therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and explored corresponding outcomes, including treatment duration and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Results We enrolled 77 advanced RCC patients (mean age 62 years) treated with a first targeted therapy. 210 cases of seven AEs of interest (fatigue, hand-foot syndrome, oral mucosal inflammation, diarrhea, gastrointestinal symptoms, hypertension, and anorexia) were observed. Most AEs were mild to moderate. Overall, 63.4% of patients were identified as managing their AEs well, reporting numerically longer treatment duration and significantly higher PRO scores than patients identified as poor managers. Conclusions Longer treatment duration and improved PROs were observed when advanced RCC patients managed targeted therapy-associated AEs well. Repeated education for consolidating AE self-management could be considered to enhance overall treatment outcomes.