PROMIS global health: potential utility as a screener to trigger construct-specific patient-reported outcome measures in clinical care

Purpose Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), including global health and construct-specific measures, are collected across healthcare systems. Efforts should be made to reduce data collection burden and individualize survey administration to patient needs. Our study evaluated the ability of utilizing items on a global health measure to identify patients who may require additional screening. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted of patients who completed PROMIS Global Health (GH) as part of routine care, as well as additional construct-specific surveys, in a large healthcare system from 1/1/2016 to 12/31/2018. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis identified optimal thresholds for PROMIS GH items identifying clinically meaningful thresholds on construct-specific PROMs: PHQ-9 score >= 10, Neuro-QoL Cognitive Function, PROMIS Physical Function, and Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities T-score <= 40, PROMIS Anxiety, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, and Pain Interference T-score >= 60. Results There were 206,685 patients who completed PROMIS GH and additional construct-specific surveys. Scores <= 3 on PROMIS GH item 10 (emotional problems) had 90.0% sensitivity (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.821) for identifying patients with moderate-severe depressive symptoms on PHQ-9. Similarly high sensitivities and AUCs were demonstrated for PROMIS GH items assessing mental and physical health, fatigue, and pain to identify poor scores on their corresponding construct-specific PROMs. Conclusions Our study provides preliminary support for the ability of utilizing PROMIS GH items as screening tools to identify patients with poor scores on additional construct-specific PROMs. Through directing construct-specific PROMs to patients for whom they are most applicable, survey burden could be reduced for many patients, allowing a more efficient and targeted use of PROMs in healthcare decision-making.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the ability of utilizing items on a global health measure to identify patients who may require additional screening. The results showed that these items can be used as screening tools to identify patients with poor scores on additional construct-specific outcomes. By directing construct-specific assessments to applicable patients, survey burden could be reduced, leading to a more efficient and targeted use of PROMs in healthcare decision-making.