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CancerCOMPASSNCT02850640

Cost and Medical Care of Patients With Advanced Serious Illness in Singapore (COMPASS) Study

An observational study of Cancer, run by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School at 2 sites in Singapore.

Unknown status

Status not confirmed. The sponsor has not verified this record for over two years, so it may be out of date.

Official record
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Trial summary

Cost and Medical Care of Patients with Advanced Serious Illness in Singapore (COMPASS),is a cohort study which aims to capture health care utilization, cost, and quality of life indicators of patients with advanced cancer and their primary caregivers. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 21 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Cancer
How many people
600 participants
Where
2 sitesSingapore
Study dates
Dec 2015to 1 Jul 2024
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 21 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Study population: Stage IV cancer patients, their primary informal caregivers and their treating physicians

Who may be able to join

  • Age ≥ 21 years old
  • Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident
  • Diagnosis of advanced/ stage IV solid cancer (for non-breast and non-prostate cancer patients). If it is breast or prostate cancer it should be stage IV with metastases to an organ site.
  • Graded 0-2 on the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status
  • Intact cognition (of patients ≥60 years of age) as determined by the Abbreviated Mental Test. If patient fails the cognitive test, he/she continues to be eligible for the study although self-reported data will no longer be collected. The Legal Representative of the patient will be approached for providing consent on behalf of the patient, to allow access to review of patient's medical and billing records
  • The exclusion criteria for patients are
Show all 20Show fewer
  • Patients who are not Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents
  • Patients who are graded 3 (confined to bed more than 50% of waking hours) and 4 (completely disabled) on the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status.
  • Patients who are ≤21 years of age
  • The inclusion criteria for primary informal caregivers are:
  • Age ≥ 21 years old
  • Main person or one of the main providing care to the patient (e.g. accompanying patient for doctor's visits, helping the patient with day to day activities)
  • Main person or one of the main ensuring provision of care (e.g. supervision of foreign domestic worker so that the patient is looked after)
  • Main person or one of the main involved in making decisions regarding treatment the patient receives
  • Patient they are caring for is enrolled in the study
  • The exclusion criteria for primary informal caregivers are:
  • Foreign domestic workers/ maids will be excluded from this study
  • The inclusion criteria for physicians are:
  • Age ≥ 21 years old
  • Patients they are treating are enrolled in the study

Who cannot join

None listed.

Trial locations and contacts

2 sites in 1 country.

Singapore2 sites

  • National Cancer Centre Singapore

    Singapore, 169610

  • National University Hospital

    Singapore, 465558

Other trials in Singapore

About this study

Cost and Medical Care of Patients with Advanced Serious Illness in Singapore (COMPASS),is a cohort study which aims to capture health care utilization, cost, and quality of life indicators of patients with advanced cancer and their primary caregivers.

Read the detailed description

The study will recruit 600 patients with advanced cancer, their primary informal caregivers and their treating physicians. Eligible patients will be recruited from study-sites in Singapore and will be followed until death. Patients and their consenting primary informal caregivers will be interviewed first at baseline and then every 3 months thereafter until the patient's death. A post-death interview with primary informal caregiver will be conducted at 8th week and 6 months after the patient's death. As the majority of the care during last year of life is provided by hospices, the eligible patients will be followed as they receive treatment and care at various hospices. Treating physicians of the patients will be invited to take part in the study. They will be asked to answer a survey conducted only once during the duration of the study.

Data on medical expenditures incurred by a patient from diagnosis of advanced cancer until death will be collected. With patient consent, these data will be extracted every 6 months from the time of patient enrolment from relevant databases, including hospitals and hospices.

Conditions
Cancer
Medical subject headings
Neoplasms

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Change in overall quality of life among patients through the last year of life.

    We will assess patient's quality of life through FACT-G

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  2. Change in anxiety and depression among patients through the last year of life

    We will assess patients' anxiety and depression through the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  3. Change in pain severity among patients through the last year of life

    We will assess pain reported by patients through visual analog pain scores

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  4. Change in activities of daily living among patients through the last year of life

    We will assess limitations in activities of daily living of patients through OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  5. Change in patient's perceived quality of care during the last year of life

    We will describe patients' assessment of their own care using a scale used by Ayanian et al (JCO, 2010) that consists of 13 questions.

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  6. Total health care expenditure during the last year of life through analysis of medical bills

    We will calculate total health care expenditure during the last year of patient's life as the sum total of expenditures incurred at clinics etc.

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

Secondary outcomes (5)

  1. Change in patient's awareness of prognosis by asking if the patients believe that their current treatment regimen is likely to cure them of cancer

    We will assess knowledge of disease by asking the extent to which advanced cancer patients understand the severity of their condition and if the patients believe that a treatment regimen is available that could cure them

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  2. Change in caregiver burden through the last year of life

    We will assess caregiver burden through modified Caregiver Reaction Assessment Scale Instrument

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  3. Change in caregiver's levels of emotional distress through the last year of life

    We will assess caregiver's anxiety and depression through the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

    Measured: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)

  4. Caregiver's perception of patient's end-of-life care assessed after patient's death

    We will assess caregiver perceived quality of end-of-life care through Caregiver Evaluation of the Quality of End-Of- Life Care( CEQUEL)

    Measured: 8 weeks bereavement

  5. Caregivers bereavement adjustment assessed after patient's death

    Post-patient death bereavement adjustment will be assessed through Brief Grief Questionnaire

    Measured: 6 months bereavement

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted1 Aug 2016 (estimated)
  2. Study startDec 2015
  3. Primary completion1 Jul 2024 (estimated)
  4. Study completion1 Jul 2024 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
600 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT02850640
Sponsor's protocol ID
2015/2781
Acronym
COMPASS
Status last verified
Oct 2023
First submitted
9 Jun 2016
Last updated
17 Oct 2023
Results posted
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Teo I, Chow M, Chaudhry I, Malhotra C, Ozdemir S, Finkelstein EA. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in the Last Year of Life: The COMPASS Cancer Cohort Study. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2025 Apr;69(4):e257-e264. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2024.12.022. Epub 2025 Jan 2.

    PubMed 39755285

  • Lee J, Shafiq M, Malhotra R, Ozdemir S, Teo I, Malhotra C. Trajectories of Health-related quality of life in patients with Advanced Cancer during the Last Year of Life: findings from the COMPASS study. BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Oct 14;21(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-01075-3.

    PubMed 36242033

  • Ozdemir S, Ng S, Chaudhry I, Teo I, Malhotra C, Finkelstein EA; COMPASS Study Group. Caregiver-Reported Roles in Treatment Decision Making in Advanced Cancer and Associated Caregiving Burden and Psychological Distress: A Longitudinal Study. Med Decis Making. 2023 Feb;43(2):191-202. doi: 10.1177/0272989X221125408. Epub 2022 Sep 16.

    PubMed 36113405

  • Malhotra C, Bundoc F, Chaudhry I, Teo I, Ozdemir S, Finkelstein E; COMPASS study group. A prospective cohort study assessing aggressive interventions at the end-of-life among patients with solid metastatic cancer. BMC Palliat Care. 2022 May 16;21(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-00970-z.

    PubMed 35578270

  • Teo I, Singh R, Malhotra C, Ozdemir S, Dent RA, Kumarakulasinghe NB, Yeo WL, Cheung YB, Malhotra R, Kanesvaran R, Yee ACP, Chan N, Wu HY, Chin SM, Allyn HYM, Yang GM, Neo PSH, Nadkarni NV, Harding R, Finkelstein EA. Cost of Medical Care of Patients with Advanced Serious Illness in Singapore (COMPASS): prospective cohort study protocol. BMC Cancer. 2018 Apr 23;18(1):459. doi: 10.1186/s12885-018-4356-z.

    PubMed 29688843

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Cancer, run by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School at 2 sites in Singapore.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 20 inclusion and 0 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 17 Oct 2023. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 2 sites in Singapore. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Results are not available in the source record.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Change in overall quality of life among patients through the last year of life. (time frame: From recruitment to death of patient (baseline, 3 month, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months)). The study lists 6 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02850640, which also lists 5 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 17 Oct 2023.

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