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First published January 9, 2007 as JAMIA PrePrint; doi:10.1197/jamia.M2199
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 2007;14(2):198-205
© 2007 American Medical Informatics Association

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Submitted on July 12, 2006
Accepted on December 11, 2006

Impact on quality of life of a telemedicine system supporting head and neck cancer patients: a controlled trial during the postoperative period at home

Jaap L. van den Brink MD, PhD1*, Peter W. Moorman MD, PhD2, Maarten F. de Boer MD, PhD3, Wim C.J. Hop PhD4, Jean F.A. Pruyn PhD5, Carel D.A. Verwoerd MD, PhD3, and Jan H. van Bemmel PhD2

Affiliation of the authors: 1 Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ; 2 Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ; 3 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ; 4 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ; 5 Institute for Health- and Environmental Issues (IGO), Schijf, The Netherlands

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Objective Telemedicine applications are believed to have the potential of enhancing the quality of life of patients, but studies evaluating telemedicine applications are still scarce. The evidence regarding the effectiveness of telemedicine is limited and not yet conclusive. Purpose of this study is to investigate whether telemedicine may be beneficial for the quality of life of cancer patients.

Design and Measurements Between 1999 and 2002 we conducted a prospective controlled trial evaluating the effects of a telemedicine application on the quality of life of head and neck cancer patients, using quality of life questionnaires that covered 22 quality of life parameters. All patients had undergone surgery for head and neck cancer at the Erasmus MC, a tertiary university hospital in The Netherlands. Patients in the intervention group were given access to an electronic health information support system for a period of six weeks starting at discharge from the hospital.

Results In total, we included 145 patients in the control group and 39 in the intervention group. At 6 weeks, the end of the intervention, the intervention group had significantly imrpoved QoL in 5 of the 22 studied parameters. Only one of these five quality of life parameters remained significantly different at 12 weeks.

Conclusion This study adds to the sparse evidence that telemedicine may be beneficial for the quality of life of cancer patients.






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