Design and evaluation of a system-wide surveillance system for late effects of treatment in childhood cancer survivors
Description: There are over 14,000 survivors of childhood cancer in Ontario. Unfortunately, the therapy needed to cure their cancer puts them at high risk of developing new cancers and/or heart problems. Most adult survivors of childhood cancer do not complete the recommended tests to check for these problems. There are many reasons for this. One important reason is that once these survivors become young adults, most of them are 'lost' to the cancer system. There is a need to build a system that can ensure that childhood cancer survivors continue to get the follow-up care they need when they transition from the intensive childhood cancer care system to the routine health care system in adulthood. We will develop a sustainable, centralized solution that builds upon our experience conducting similar work. We will use existing data sources to build a provincial registry of survivors that can benefit from early detection of the health problems that are at high risk of developing. We will send these survivors personalized information about the surveillance tests they are due for, based on their cancer treatment history. Before launching this solution, we will work with stakeholders and survivors, to ensure the intervention is user-centred. We will test the solution in a province-wide experiment to determine whether the reminder system leads to an increase in adult survivor screening test completion. If the reminder system is effective, it will be implemented as a program for all Ontario childhood cancer survivors. It will be applicable to other age groups (e.g. young adults) and high-risk groups (e.g. patients with genetic risks for cancer) who can benefit from routine surveillance for new cancers and other long-term side effects of therapy. Furthermore, our national partners have expressed interest in sharing it with pediatric cancer centres across Canada. Let's not save the lives of children with cancer only to have them die from heart disease or a new cancer as young adults.
Amount: CA$110,400
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Project Grant - Priority Announcement: Patient-Oriented Research
Start date: 2020-03-01
End date: 2021-02-28
Investigator: Noah Ivers
Institution: Women's College Hospital (Toronto)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: 169702_1
OpenAlex ID: G480430625