Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19105048›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2009

The applications of PROs in clinical practice: what are they, do they work, and why?

Joanne Greenhalgh

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03673332 (Elderly Cancer PatIents Treated for Advanced or Metastatic Melanoma or NSCLC, Safety and qualiTy of Life Under immunOtheraPies), which is not on this map. Cited by 281 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
281citing papers in PubMed, 13 pooled it
16.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03673332 phase4terminatednot on this mapstarted 2019, after this paper: background citation

Elderly Cancer PatIents Treated for Advanced or Metastatic Melanoma or NSCLC, Safety and qualiTy of Life Under immunOtheraPies: a Phase IV Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorInstitut Paoli-CalmettesRan2019 to 2024Enrolled40ConditionsAdvanced or Metastatic Melanoma, Advanced or Metastatic NSCLCArmsimmune-checkpoint inhibitors therapies
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

281 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 634 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Psychometric properties of self-reported measures of psychological birth trauma in puerperae: A COSMIN systematic review.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
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  5. Perceived benefits and limitations of using patient-reported outcome measures in clinical practice with individual patients: a systematic review of qualitative studies.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022
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  8. Are We Improving? Update and Critical Appraisal of the Reporting of Decision Process and Quality Measures in Trials Evaluating Patient Decision Aids.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2021
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  11. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials evaluating the use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2019
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  16. Baseline health-related quality of life predicts falls: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022
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  18. Using a quality of life (QoL)-monitor: preliminary results of a randomized trial in Dutch patients with early breast cancer.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2020
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221 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Joanne GreenhalghSchool of Healthcare, University of Leeds, LS2 9UT, Leeds, UK. j.greenhalgh@leeds.ac.uk
University of Leeds · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPrecisely defining the different applications of patient-reported outcome measures (PROs) in clinical practice can be difficult. This is because the intervention is complex and varies amongst different studies in terms of the type of PRO used, how the PRO is fed back, and to whom it is fed back.

methodsA theory-driven approach is used to describe six different applications of PROs in clinical practice. The evidence for the impact of these applications on the process and outcomes of care are summarised. Possible explanations for the limited impact of PROs on patient management are then discussed and directions for future research are highlighted.

resultsThe applications of PROs in clinical practice include screening tools, monitoring tools, as a method of promoting patient-centred care, as a decision aid, as a method of facilitating communication amongst multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), and as a means of monitoring the quality of patient care. Evidence from randomised controlled trials suggests that the use of PROs in clinical practice is valuable in improving the discussion and detection of HRQoL problems but has less of an impact on how clinicians manage patient problems or on subsequent patient outcomes. Many of the reasons for this may lie in the ways in which PROs fit (or do not fit) into the routine ways in which patients and clinicians communicate with each other, how clinicians make decisions, and how healthcare as a whole is organised.

conclusionsFuture research needs to identify ways in with PROs can be better incorporated into the routine care of patients by combining qualitative and quantitative methods and adopting appropriate trial designs.

Indexed as

Delivery of Health CarePatient SatisfactionDecision MakingHumansModels, TheoreticalOutcome Assessment, Health CareSurveys and Questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID19105048
OpenAlexW1972803103

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.