Understanding health equity in patient-reported outcomes

Patient reported outcomes (PROs) are measures of patients’ health that are conveyed directly by individual patients. These measures serve as instruments to evaluate the impact of interventions on any aspect of patients’ health, from specific symptoms to broader quality-of-life indicators. However, their effectiveness relies on capturing relevant factors accurately. While commonly utilized in clinical trials, PROs extend their influence across healthcare settings, informing clinicians, healthcare payers, regulators, and administrators to guide quality improvement and reimbursement decisions. Neglecting health equity considerations in PRO development and implementation widens health disparities, leading to biased interpretations, medical mismanagement, and poor health outcomes among minoritized groups. To foster equitable healthcare, efforts must focus on considering the values of underrepresented populations in PRO design, addressing barriers to completion, enhancing representation in research, providing cultural competency training for clinicians, and allocating research funding to support health equity research. By addressing these issues, advances can be made towards fostering inclusive, equitable healthcare for all individuals.