To comprehensively review Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) instruments for influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI), emphasizing the importance of capturing patient perspectives, identifying gaps, and providing recommendations for effective implementation in research.
Key Findings:
PROs capture patient perspectives on health status, symptoms, and quality of life, which are essential for personalized care.
Generic PRO instruments may underestimate disease-specific impacts, highlighting the need for targeted measures.
Existing PRO measures for influenza are limited, necessitating further development and validation, particularly in capturing the full patient experience.
Interpretation:
Incorporating patient perspectives through PROs can enhance understanding of influenza's impact, improve healthcare responses, and guide future research directions.
Limitations:
The review did not perform a formal risk of bias assessment for included clinical trials, which may affect the reliability of findings.
Focus was primarily on identifying PRO utilization rather than synthesizing intervention efficacy, which limits the scope of conclusions drawn.
Conclusion:
There is a critical need for the development and implementation of disease-specific PRO instruments in influenza research to better capture patient experiences and inform healthcare practices, addressing the identified gaps urgently.
