New collaborative project to improve the quality of life with lung cancer

With more than 50,000 new cases per year, lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer in Germany. The symptoms of this disease and the accompanying symptoms of the often stressful treatment can have a considerable impact on the quality of life of those affected. This is where the new project "LePaLuMo" comes in. The abbreviation stands for "Improvement of the quality of life (QoL) of patients with lung cancer through preference-oriented QoL monitoring and linkage with cancer registry data". Prof. Dr. Martin Emmert from the Institute for Medical Management and Health Sciences (IMG) at the University of Bayreuth, Prof. Dr. Monika Klinkhammer-Schalke from the Institute of Quality Assurance and Health Services Research at the University of Regensburg and Prof. Dr. Michael Koller from the Center for Clinical Studies at the University Hospital Regensburg are cooperating on the upcoming research work.

The "LePaLuMo" project is based on a concept for monitoring and improving disease-related quality of life that was developed at the University of Regensburg and decidedly focuses on patients' quality of life. This concept has proven very successful in studies on breast and colorectal cancer and is now to be extended to lung cancer. In a discrete choice experiment, the preferences of lung cancer patients and their follow-up physicians will be determined. The physicians should be able to gain a better comprehensive impression of the health status of their patients than was previously the case. In this way, they will be able to focus their communication holistically on the patient's experiences, needs and interests, instead of focusing on isolated clinical aspects.

During cancer therapy and aftercare, all relevant aspects of the individual quality of life of lung cancer patients will be continuously recorded with the help of a digital health application. The individual profiles obtained in this way will be made available to the patients themselves and, with their consent, to all those involved in the therapy. A comprehensive care network is being set up in Bayreuth and Regensburg so that competent contact persons can be accessed quickly and specifically when needed. This includes specialized clinicians, doctors in private practice and therapists, especially from the fields of physiotherapy, psychotherapy and social work. The network will take care of the individual quality of life of the patients and support them in their fight against cancer in the best possible way.

In addition, it is planned to link the data collected during the project with clinical data from the Bavarian Cancer Registry. "This systematic linkage is so far unique in Germany. It opens up the possibility for health services research to specifically and systematically address research questions that focus on the well-being and quality of life of patients and thus extend well beyond traditional clinical parameters," says project leader Prof. Dr. Martin Emmert.

Further information (German):
https://innovationsfonds.g-ba.de/projekte/versorgungsforschung/lepalumo-verbesserung-der-lebensqualitaet-lq-von-patientinnen-mit-lungenkarzinom-durch-praeferenzorientiertes-lq-monitoring-in-verknuepfung-mit-krebsregisterdaten.545