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Bryce Reeve, PhD, a UNC Lineberger member and professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management, has received a more than $2.9 million, four-year grant from the NIH as part of its Pediatric Patient-Reported Outcomes in Chronic Disease consortium. The grant is shared with Duke University where Laura Schanberg, MD, is the co-P.I.

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Bryce Reeve, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger member and professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management.

CHAPEL HILL — A UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher has won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how cancer and other diseases affect the well-being of children and teens.

Bryce Reeve, PhD, a UNC Lineberger member and professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management, has received a more than $2.9 million, four-year grant from the NIH as part of its Pediatric Patient-Reported Outcomes in Chronic Disease consortium. The grant is shared with Duke University where Laura Schanberg, MD, is the co-P.I.

According to the NIH, the PEPR consortium efforts are “designed to improve pediatric health and well-being by capturing the voice and experience of children and their families living with a variety of chronic diseases and conditions.”

The UNC-based efforts of the consortium focus on understanding how living with cancer, rheumatic disease or inflammatory bowel disease affects children’s well-being. Researchers will leverage several pediatric data collection networks to test tools that assess children’s physical, psychological, and social health including pain, fatigue, physical function, stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, sense of meaning and purpose, and quality of family life and peer relationships.

“This new grant supports our research to understand how diseases such as cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatic disease impact the lives of children and adolescents,” Reeve said. “This grant will support our continued effort to enhance the child’s voice in clinical practice and research by allowing children to describe symptoms they are experiencing as well as quality of life impact. Using web-based systems, this self-reported information can automatically and efficiently be provided to the treating clinicians as a way to improve their care for children and adolescents.”

The overall goal of the PEPR Consortium is to test several pediatric patient-reported outcome tools that measure aspects of physical, mental, and social well-being such as pain, anxiety, and peer relationships. The research will also help to improve understanding of the effects of environmental stressors on symptoms and quality of life in children with a variety of chronic diseases or conditions. By validating the pediatric PROMIS measures, the Consortium will facilitate their adoption and meaningful use in research and clinical care settings, ultimately improving the treatment of chronic diseases in children.

Reeve said the funding will support another study of 550 children and adolescents with cancer studying the impact of treatment toxicities using their PRO-CTCAE System.

“Together, we have a comprehensive evaluation of how cancer and its treatment impacts the lives of children and adolescents,” he said. “With an in-depth understanding of how our measurement tools (PROMIS, PRO-CTCAE) capture the experiences and perspectives of children and adolescents, this work will promote the use of these tools in pediatric oncology studies nationally and globally.”

This proposed study extends the work initially conceived by the late Harry Guess, PhD, who was a professor of epidemiology, and Darren DeWalt, MD, who is now at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.