Most Proposed Topic :
Enhancing Partnership with Patients and Community (projects initiated to engage patient and improve patient communication)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
HA Young Investigators Session (Projects to be presented by HA staff who had joined HA for less than 15 years)
Authors: (including presenting author): :
Mak WY(1), Kwok M(1), Chau KC(1), Chow J(2), Chang KYS(1)
Affiliation: :
(1)Dietetics Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital(QEH), (2)Department of Clinical Oncology, QEH
Introduction: :
A nutrition care pathway for NPC patients was first initiated in 2015. All newly diagnosed patients were referred to dietitians for nutrition therapy on a regular basis. Consultation was conducted either at out-patient(OPD) or at in-patient(IP) setting. In our previous analysis, patients who joined the pathway had significantly less weight loss comparing to the controlled group. During the pandemic of COVID, Tele-health service(TELE) was introduced to the care pathway to reduce the frequency of hospital visits. Therefore, it could be an alternative mean of consultation for immunocompromised patients to decrease the chance of infection.
Objectives: :
To compare the body weight(BW) change of NPC patients who attended either face-to-face(FTF) or TELE sessions at each time point.
Methodology: :
NPC patients receiving chemo-radiotherapy(ChemoRT) at QEH were selected for the current study. Data from 4 time points: Pre-treatment, during treatment (Week 1-3 and Week 4-6) and post-treatment were retrieved and mode of consultation were categorized into 2 groups: FTF and TELE. The change in BW and Body Mass Index(BMI) at the following consultation were compared accordingly. T-test or Mann-Whitney test was conducted to compare differences between groups when Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test was conducted to look for association between groups.
Result & Outcome: :
142 active NPC patients since 2020 were studied and 8 patients declining treatment were excluded (n=134). 15.7%, 2.94%, 3.61% and 7.25% of visits were using TELE at 4 time points respectively. The age of diagnosis was significantly lower at TELE (40.3 ± 6.9) than FTF (55.4 ± 10.9) in the pre-treatment period (p< 0.05, Independent T-test). However, no age difference was found at ongoing and post treatment period. Other baseline characteristics between groups were not significantly different. For the change of BW and BMI, two groups shared a similar trend and there was no significant difference between groups at all the time points.
To conclude, the preliminary result might represent that TELE could be a comparable and effective alternative mean of consultation for NPC patients. However, the age difference between groups might indicate that TELE was more acceptable among younger patients. In addition, as patients were routinely seen during admission for ChemoRT, there was a lower demand for TELE within treatment period. Due to the small sample size, further study is required.
