Feasibility of a patient-centered method to determine meaningful change in pain intensity on a survey of patients with a history of cancer.

Introduction: Current methods of determining minimally important differences (MIDs) in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) do not incorporate individual patient values.

Objectives: This study tested the feasibility of having cancer patients define a personally meaningful change in pain intensity, a method we have termed Precision PROs.

Methods: Adults with cancer and pain (n = 231) completed an electronic questionnaire twice over 2 weeks. Participants were then given their pain intensity scores with an explanation of score meaning. Participants then defined their own MIDs for an increase and decrease in pain intensity. Participants also answered 3 questions testing their understanding of the MID concept.

Results: The majority of participants could define an individually meaningful increase (97% [n = 223]) and individually meaningful decrease (98% [n = 226]) in pain intensity. Seventy-two percent of participants (n = 166) answered all test questions correctly and 26% (n = 60) answered 2 of 3 correctly. Using the individual MID, 32% (95% CI: 25.3, 40.0) of the sample experienced a meaningful change between the 2 surveys, more than other methods (z-test: 14%, 95% CI: 9.4, 20.6; distribution-based method: 24%, 95% CI: 17.7, 31.1).

Conclusions: This study showed the feasibility of the Precision PRO individual MID, which could be used in clinical care or clinical trials. Further studies are needed to compare the individual MID to current methods.