1 00:00:13,110 --> 00:00:16,000 >> Liz Ness: Welcome to Part 2 of Adverse Events, 2 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:17,660 Assessment and Documentation. 2 00:00:17,660 --> 00:00:18,660 My name is Liz Ness. 3 00:00:18,660 --> 00:00:20,750 And I'm the director of the Office of Education 4 00:00:20,750 --> 00:00:23,300 and Compliance in the Center for Cancer Research 5 00:00:23,300 --> 00:00:25,560 at the National Cancer Institute. 6 00:00:27,450 --> 00:00:31,080 Assessment of adverse events and timely documentation 7 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,370 is crucial to research participant safety 8 00:00:34,370 --> 00:00:38,630 and a critical component of good clinical practice. 9 00:00:38,630 --> 00:00:40,230 At the end of Part 2, 10 00:00:40,910 --> 00:00:43,810 I hope you'll be able to describe the components 11 00:00:43,810 --> 00:00:48,160 of a quality adverse event assessment and documentation 12 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:50,770 as well as the common data elements 13 00:00:50,770 --> 00:00:54,190 that are collected on an adverse event case report form. 14 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,050 When you are assessing safety 15 00:00:58,050 --> 00:01:00,570 and or toxicity in a clinical trial, 16 00:01:00,570 --> 00:01:02,150 you need to first assess 17 00:01:02,150 --> 00:01:05,770 and document how the participant is doing at baseline 18 00:01:05,770 --> 00:01:08,560 before beginning any component of the research. 19 00:01:10,460 --> 00:01:14,360 So, you want to assess the signs and symptoms that are present 20 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,080 when the participant starts treatment. 21 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,930 So, for example, this could be the first day 22 00:01:20,450 --> 00:01:24,720 immediately pre-dosing or receiving the intervention. 23 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:30,190 It usually doesn't include those signs and symptoms that occurred 24 00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:34,120 and resolved between the time of eligibility screening 25 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:35,790 and the starting of dosing. 26 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,910 Those often are considered part of medical history 27 00:01:40,910 --> 00:01:45,650 and are added to a medical history case report form. 28 00:01:47,470 --> 00:01:51,450 And you would need to have some type of a description 29 00:01:51,450 --> 00:01:55,460 such that you knew how severe that baseline symptom was. 30 00:01:56,070 --> 00:01:59,130 Please note though that some sponsors 31 00:01:59,130 --> 00:02:03,230 required the research teams to record adverse events from 32 00:02:03,230 --> 00:02:05,630 when the patient signs the consent 33 00:02:06,690 --> 00:02:09,430 through the first study intervention. 34 00:02:09,430 --> 00:02:12,340 This should be defined in the protocol 35 00:02:12,340 --> 00:02:16,800 or at least in the case report form instruction manual. 36 00:02:21,260 --> 00:02:22,890 Assessment of an adverse event 37 00:02:22,890 --> 00:02:25,410 is done by the principal investigator 38 00:02:25,410 --> 00:02:29,080 or their designee who is a member of the research team. 39 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,200 Typically, these are other licensed individuals. 40 00:02:32,910 --> 00:02:35,400 And it includes determining the severity 41 00:02:36,190 --> 00:02:38,450 as well as the cause of the event. 42 00:02:39,550 --> 00:02:42,390 It is this assessment plus the expectedness 43 00:02:42,390 --> 00:02:45,990 and outcome of the event that determine the timelines 44 00:02:45,990 --> 00:02:50,350 for reporting an adverse event to the IRB, sponsor, 45 00:02:50,350 --> 00:02:53,670 or other regulatory or oversights groups. 46 00:02:53,670 --> 00:02:58,850 The reporting will be done in AE Part 3 and Part 4. 47 00:03:01,030 --> 00:03:05,030 Using controlled vocabularies to represent clinical concepts 48 00:03:05,030 --> 00:03:08,140 is the best way to describe an adverse event 49 00:03:08,140 --> 00:03:10,530 or to select an adverse event term. 50 00:03:11,730 --> 00:03:13,670 MedDRA, or the Medical Dictionary 51 00:03:13,670 --> 00:03:17,090 for Regulatory Activities, and SNOMED, 52 00:03:17,090 --> 00:03:22,660 or the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms, 53 00:03:22,660 --> 00:03:26,760 are two most common sources for medical terminology. 54 00:03:27,380 --> 00:03:30,170 MedDRA is widely used in clinical trials, 55 00:03:30,170 --> 00:03:35,570 whereas SNOMED Clinical Terms is used for clinical care data, 56 00:03:35,570 --> 00:03:39,010 often in your, maybe, electronic health record. 57 00:03:40,500 --> 00:03:46,010 In oncology, the clinical -- the common toxicity, 58 00:03:46,010 --> 00:03:48,940 the CTCAE or the Common Terminology Criteria 59 00:03:48,940 --> 00:03:50,140 for Adverse Events 60 00:03:50,140 --> 00:03:54,110 is used, which is a combination of MedDRA terms, 61 00:03:54,670 --> 00:03:56,920 which we'll talk more about in a minute, 62 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:58,970 and a severity rating scale, 63 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,480 which will be described later in this session. 64 00:04:04,620 --> 00:04:08,530 Though the CTCAE was initiated in oncology, 65 00:04:08,530 --> 00:04:13,690 other disease specialties do use this as well for their standard 66 00:04:13,690 --> 00:04:16,820 in determining an AE term or severity 67 00:04:16,820 --> 00:04:22,220 or use it as a model to create a similar type 68 00:04:22,220 --> 00:04:24,230 of severity rating scale. 69 00:04:26,090 --> 00:04:29,430 So, MedDRA is a clinically validated international 70 00:04:29,430 --> 00:04:32,870 medical terminology dictionary with each term 71 00:04:32,870 --> 00:04:34,920 having a unique code 72 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,780 and what is referred to as a concept ID. 73 00:04:37,780 --> 00:04:44,920 It was initially developed in 1994 by ICH to facilitate 74 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,090 the sharing of regulatory information internationally. 75 00:04:49,090 --> 00:04:52,890 MedDRA is used by the biopharmaceutical industry 76 00:04:52,890 --> 00:04:56,680 and regulatory authorities for AE classification. 77 00:04:57,980 --> 00:05:01,380 The structure of MedDRA is actually very logical. 78 00:05:01,380 --> 00:05:04,410 There are five levels to the MedDRA hierarchy, 79 00:05:04,410 --> 00:05:08,260 arranged from very specific to very general, 80 00:05:09,910 --> 00:05:12,170 or very general to very specific. 81 00:05:12,860 --> 00:05:16,280 The first highest level is called a SOC 82 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:18,130 or a System Organ Class 83 00:05:18,130 --> 00:05:21,600 for which they're in the version of 26 84 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,630 that was released in March of 2023. 85 00:05:24,630 --> 00:05:26,580 There are 27 SOCs. 86 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,840 These are the highest level of the terminology 87 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:33,070 and they're distinguished 88 00:05:33,070 --> 00:05:37,960 by anatomic or physiological systems 89 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,320 such as infections or infestations 90 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,580 or purposes such as surgical or medical. 91 00:05:45,580 --> 00:05:48,530 Then there is a High-Level Group Term, 92 00:05:48,530 --> 00:05:53,560 a subordinate to the SOC, a High-Level Term, 93 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,760 which is subordinate to the term above, 94 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,930 the High-Level Group Term, a Preferred Term, 95 00:05:59,930 --> 00:06:03,520 which represents a single medical concept, 96 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:05,540 and then a Lowest Level Term, 97 00:06:06,410 --> 00:06:09,740 which is related to a single preferred term 98 00:06:09,740 --> 00:06:14,310 as synonyms or quasi-synonyms. 99 00:06:14,900 --> 00:06:21,830 And here is an example of the Preferred Term, fatigue, 100 00:06:21,830 --> 00:06:26,700 which is found in the System Organ Class of general disorders 101 00:06:26,700 --> 00:06:30,830 and administrative site conditions, 102 00:06:30,830 --> 00:06:37,900 a High-Level Group Term of general systems disorders NEC 103 00:06:37,900 --> 00:06:40,510 or not elsewhere classified, 104 00:06:40,510 --> 00:06:44,350 a High-Level Term of asthenic conditions, 105 00:06:44,350 --> 00:06:46,540 Preferred Term of fatigue. 106 00:06:46,540 --> 00:06:51,790 And then when you look at the various Lower-Level Terms, 107 00:06:51,790 --> 00:06:55,370 you can see that these often represent 108 00:06:55,370 --> 00:06:57,750 how our research participants 109 00:06:57,750 --> 00:07:01,490 might express an adverse event term of fatigue, 110 00:07:01,490 --> 00:07:04,640 such as, "I'm feeling washed out." 111 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,770 "I'm just tired all the time." "I feel very weary." 112 00:07:07,770 --> 00:07:12,030 "I'm exhausted." And that's then how we can take 113 00:07:12,570 --> 00:07:15,040 what the research participant says, 114 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,740 what we see documented in a medical record, 115 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:22,820 and determine what might be the most appropriate, 116 00:07:23,340 --> 00:07:26,990 let's say Preferred Term, that can be used 117 00:07:26,990 --> 00:07:31,280 and then shared across regulatory agencies. 118 00:07:33,620 --> 00:07:38,340 So, understanding and measuring severity is also important. 119 00:07:38,340 --> 00:07:39,790 So, in clinical trials, 120 00:07:39,790 --> 00:07:41,510 typically there are rating scales 121 00:07:41,510 --> 00:07:43,940 that are used to measure severity. 122 00:07:43,940 --> 00:07:46,930 The severity of an AE often determines 123 00:07:46,930 --> 00:07:48,570 if dosing interruptions, 124 00:07:48,570 --> 00:07:53,950 modifications, or maybe even a discontinuation needs to be 125 00:07:53,950 --> 00:07:57,330 implemented according to what the protocol says. 126 00:07:57,970 --> 00:08:01,430 Rating scales can be used for eligibility criteria. 127 00:08:02,830 --> 00:08:07,890 They can also include how the severity of the adverse event 128 00:08:07,890 --> 00:08:09,200 is to be measured, 129 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,040 even if only providing descriptions 130 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,260 for mild, moderate, or severe. 131 00:08:15,420 --> 00:08:19,080 And here you can see some definitions of mild, 132 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,080 moderate, and severe. 133 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,450 So, mild, there is an awareness of a sign, a symptom, 134 00:08:24,450 --> 00:08:28,040 or an adverse event, but it's easily tolerated. 135 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,880 Moderate means that it's uncomfortable, 136 00:08:33,210 --> 00:08:35,870 that it's causing some interference 137 00:08:35,870 --> 00:08:38,820 with usual activities of daily living, 138 00:08:38,820 --> 00:08:42,780 or that it may warrant some additional investigation. 139 00:08:42,780 --> 00:08:47,370 And severe is incapacitating their ability 140 00:08:47,370 --> 00:08:49,400 to do their usual activities 141 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,610 or having significant effect on their clinical status 142 00:08:53,610 --> 00:08:56,170 that further warrants intervention. 143 00:08:58,550 --> 00:09:01,910 And sometimes, you know, my definition of mild 144 00:09:01,910 --> 00:09:04,720 might be different than your definition of mild. 145 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:10,310 So, it is important to try to hone in on this in a protocol 146 00:09:10,310 --> 00:09:15,280 when defining what severity an adverse event is. 147 00:09:16,070 --> 00:09:18,540 As I mentioned, in oncology, 148 00:09:19,580 --> 00:09:22,300 we utilize what we call the CTCAE. 149 00:09:23,180 --> 00:09:27,610 The National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation 150 00:09:27,610 --> 00:09:31,720 Program actually developed the original CTC, 151 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,810 which was Common Toxicity Criteria, in 1983 152 00:09:35,810 --> 00:09:39,940 to help aid in recognizing and assessing the severity, 153 00:09:39,940 --> 00:09:43,930 or what's referred to as grading of adverse effects 154 00:09:43,930 --> 00:09:47,180 on chemotherapy. The name was changed since, 155 00:09:47,180 --> 00:09:50,510 as I mentioned in Part 1 of Adverse Events, 156 00:09:50,510 --> 00:09:54,850 toxicity has an implication of an association 157 00:09:54,850 --> 00:09:57,320 with the intervention. 158 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:03,000 And as we know, adverse events do not have that association. 159 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,300 These became fundamentally agreed upon terms 160 00:10:10,300 --> 00:10:12,940 for adverse events within oncology research. 161 00:10:12,940 --> 00:10:18,000 But as I mentioned, it has gone to other disciplines as well. 162 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,830 And it's organized by MedDRA terms 163 00:10:21,830 --> 00:10:24,030 using the System Organ Class 164 00:10:24,030 --> 00:10:30,290 minus the product issue system organ classification. 165 00:10:31,020 --> 00:10:34,780 And the AE term is a Lowest Level Term, 166 00:10:34,780 --> 00:10:38,060 which can be rolled up then to a Preferred Term. 167 00:10:38,750 --> 00:10:43,040 This is just a brief evolution of CTCAE. 168 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,510 Initially, there were categories and adverse event terms. 169 00:10:47,510 --> 00:10:49,770 You can see with each version, 170 00:10:49,770 --> 00:10:52,680 there were an increase in categories, 171 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:55,260 which with Version 4 in 2010 172 00:10:56,980 --> 00:11:00,690 was harmonized with MedDRA's System Organ Class. 173 00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:05,700 And then the AE terms have also exponentially grown. 174 00:11:05,700 --> 00:11:10,290 You'll notice that the current Version 5.0 175 00:11:10,290 --> 00:11:14,670 has 837 adverse event terms. 176 00:11:14,670 --> 00:11:18,680 And as you saw in a couple of slides previously, 177 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:22,420 the MedDRA Lower-Level Terms, 178 00:11:22,420 --> 00:11:25,410 there were, you know, almost 88,000. 179 00:11:25,410 --> 00:11:27,920 So, these are certainly subsets 180 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:34,290 of what is commonly seen in oncology research. 181 00:11:34,290 --> 00:11:41,110 I will note as of this taping as well Version 6 is in the works 182 00:11:41,110 --> 00:11:45,140 and is waiting for a finalization 183 00:11:45,140 --> 00:11:50,790 with the fall release of MedDRA, which typically is in September. 184 00:11:50,790 --> 00:11:53,290 They do sort of a point version -- 185 00:11:53,290 --> 00:11:57,030 point one version release in the fall 186 00:11:57,030 --> 00:12:01,680 with their main version releases in the early spring, 187 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:03,280 typically in March. 188 00:12:04,110 --> 00:12:09,890 If a condition is not listed, since there's only 837 terms, 189 00:12:09,890 --> 00:12:14,620 each of the SOCs has what we refer to as an Other category, 190 00:12:14,620 --> 00:12:18,570 so that a term can be applied there. 191 00:12:18,570 --> 00:12:20,510 And I'll show you how you would then 192 00:12:20,510 --> 00:12:23,200 determine what severity rating. 193 00:12:24,130 --> 00:12:27,030 But let's take a look of an AE term. 194 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,590 I selected anemia. 195 00:12:29,590 --> 00:12:34,150 It falls within the blood and lymphatic system disorder SOC. 196 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,920 And the SOCs in general are located alphabetically. 197 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:41,930 And the adverse event terms 198 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,200 also are listed alphabetically within a SOC. 199 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,460 And as I mentioned, each SOC has an Other AE term. 200 00:12:52,630 --> 00:12:58,740 All of the AE terms have a definition that you see here 201 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:05,070 as well as different grades. 202 00:13:06,610 --> 00:13:12,310 So, when you read -- when you're reading CTCAE, 203 00:13:12,310 --> 00:13:15,260 semicolons are read as or statements. 204 00:13:15,770 --> 00:13:19,180 And sometimes you will see what's called an em-dash 205 00:13:19,180 --> 00:13:23,080 or a line, which indicates that that grade 206 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,010 or that severity rating is not appropriate. 207 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,880 For an example of then how to use this 208 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:38,200 in reviewing a lab result, if you have a hemoglobin of 8.1, 209 00:13:41,050 --> 00:13:48,160 but the physician feels based on the symptoms of the participant 210 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:50,790 that they need a blood transfusion. 211 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:56,460 At face value, the lab value itself looks like it would mean 212 00:13:56,460 --> 00:13:58,880 that that would be a Grade 2 event. 213 00:14:00,170 --> 00:14:03,360 However, when a transfusion is indicated, 214 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,900 the comma or the semicolon in Grade 3 reads 215 00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:12,580 as an or statement. So, or a transfusion indicated. 216 00:14:12,580 --> 00:14:16,400 So, a hemoglobin of 8.1 with a participant 217 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,960 who might be symptomatic and is in need of a transfusion 218 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,330 becomes a Grade 3 anemia as an adverse event. 219 00:14:27,860 --> 00:14:29,650 Here is another example. 220 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,380 And I chose this example of diarrhea 221 00:14:33,380 --> 00:14:35,620 as an adverse event term 222 00:14:35,620 --> 00:14:41,500 to indicate how important baseline assessment really is. 223 00:14:41,500 --> 00:14:45,820 So, you can see the SOC here of gastrointestinal disorders. 224 00:14:47,170 --> 00:14:51,410 And you can see that the grading or the definitions 225 00:14:51,950 --> 00:14:57,880 within each grade talk about an increase over baseline. 226 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,090 So, it's really critical to understand 227 00:15:01,090 --> 00:15:05,770 what the normal bowel pattern is of a research participant, 228 00:15:05,770 --> 00:15:10,780 especially when you may anticipate changes 229 00:15:10,780 --> 00:15:12,210 in their bowel pattern 230 00:15:12,210 --> 00:15:17,320 given what you know about the products 231 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:21,020 or the interventions within that clinical trial. 232 00:15:23,850 --> 00:15:29,630 You can also notice here that you have an increase 233 00:15:30,370 --> 00:15:33,410 or limiting self-care ADLs. 234 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,240 So, self-care ADLs are those ADLs 235 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,890 that you do for yourself such as bathing, feeding, 236 00:15:41,890 --> 00:15:45,700 and then there's other ADLs called instrumental ADLs 237 00:15:45,700 --> 00:15:49,240 that are part of some of the definitions. 238 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:50,530 And I think of those 239 00:15:50,530 --> 00:15:52,340 as when you're not able to do for others, 240 00:15:52,340 --> 00:15:54,670 such as going to the grocery store 241 00:15:54,670 --> 00:15:57,260 or preparing a meal for your family. 242 00:15:59,660 --> 00:16:04,460 So, since not all terms are available that are in MedDRA, 243 00:16:04,460 --> 00:16:07,990 other is an AE term, and then you describe that. 244 00:16:07,990 --> 00:16:14,040 And this is the descriptions for each of the grades here. 245 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:18,530 And again, you would use the semicolons as an or statement. 246 00:16:18,530 --> 00:16:21,500 So, if you had a term that wasn't available 247 00:16:21,500 --> 00:16:25,070 you would look to the other grading scale 248 00:16:25,070 --> 00:16:29,430 and determine which definition or description it falls in 249 00:16:29,430 --> 00:16:31,630 to select the appropriate grade. 250 00:16:33,690 --> 00:16:37,580 So, for those of you that do utilize CTCAE. 251 00:16:38,650 --> 00:16:41,580 It is available on a smartphone or tablet. 252 00:16:41,580 --> 00:16:43,930 It has a great, easy search feature. 253 00:16:45,140 --> 00:16:48,460 This is just snapshots from the app from my phone. 254 00:16:48,460 --> 00:16:53,050 This pulls up the System Organ Class of blood 255 00:16:53,050 --> 00:16:55,100 and lymphatic system disorders. 256 00:16:55,100 --> 00:16:59,040 And when I went and plugged-in anemia, I can see -- 257 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,740 you can see the same grading scale with the definition here 258 00:17:02,740 --> 00:17:06,240 that I noted in a few slides previously. 259 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,760 There's also a PDF version on NCI's website, 260 00:17:10,390 --> 00:17:12,970 and that also, you know, you can search 261 00:17:12,970 --> 00:17:15,190 using the PDF search feature. 262 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,320 So, the FDA also has a guidance document 263 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,200 for grading adverse events in prevention clinical trials. 264 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:25,940 And so, you can see here 265 00:17:25,940 --> 00:17:30,330 they use a similar system of Grades 1 through 4, 266 00:17:30,330 --> 00:17:33,490 and that is found in the guidance document 267 00:17:34,710 --> 00:17:37,270 entitled here on the slide. 268 00:17:37,270 --> 00:17:41,270 But regardless of how an adverse event is assessed for severity 269 00:17:41,270 --> 00:17:43,830 or which grading scale you use. 270 00:17:43,830 --> 00:17:46,750 The protocol ideally should help provide you 271 00:17:46,750 --> 00:17:50,130 with that information to guide you 272 00:17:50,130 --> 00:17:54,040 in having consistent assessments of severity rating. 273 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,730 Once the severity of an adverse event is established, 274 00:17:58,730 --> 00:18:00,980 the next step really is to find the cause 275 00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:03,020 or the attribution of the event. 276 00:18:03,580 --> 00:18:08,090 Is the event related to the study agents, 277 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,340 the patient's, you know, 278 00:18:10,340 --> 00:18:13,640 underlying condition that's being studied, 279 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,490 or underlying pre-existing conditions? 280 00:18:17,490 --> 00:18:20,720 So, determining the attribution is done by the PI 281 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:24,750 or a provider designee who's knowledgeable about the product 282 00:18:24,750 --> 00:18:26,350 and about the protocol. 283 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:31,180 I always think of determining an attribution or causality 284 00:18:31,180 --> 00:18:33,190 as not just a science, but an art. 285 00:18:33,980 --> 00:18:37,540 And here are some following things that can be -- 286 00:18:37,540 --> 00:18:42,140 some questions that you can ask to help the research team 287 00:18:42,140 --> 00:18:44,120 determine that attribution. 288 00:18:44,820 --> 00:18:48,830 What do you already know about the drug, the therapy, 289 00:18:48,830 --> 00:18:50,980 or the classification of the drug? 290 00:18:50,980 --> 00:18:53,030 So, the expectedness. 291 00:18:53,030 --> 00:18:55,970 What is the temporal relationship of the event 292 00:18:55,970 --> 00:18:58,140 to the study therapy or intervention? 293 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,770 Does the adverse event improve or disappear 294 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,710 when the drug or the therapy is stopped? 295 00:19:06,330 --> 00:19:09,000 If the drug or therapy is reintroduced, 296 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,660 does the adverse event reappear? 297 00:19:12,660 --> 00:19:14,840 Does it reappear at the same time point? 298 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,550 Does it reappear at the same severity rating? 299 00:19:19,030 --> 00:19:21,990 Is the adverse event a result of signs 300 00:19:21,990 --> 00:19:25,150 or symptoms of the underlying disease being studied? 301 00:19:25,770 --> 00:19:28,610 Is it a worsening of baseline symptoms? 302 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:33,300 Is the adverse event a result of an underlying concurrent 303 00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:38,110 on medical condition or the use of a concurrent medication? 304 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,150 So, those are some questions. 305 00:19:42,150 --> 00:19:46,470 And so, what are our options for then 306 00:19:46,470 --> 00:19:50,200 assigning those attributions or causalities. 307 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,050 So, there's sort of two approaches. 308 00:19:52,050 --> 00:19:55,880 This approach one is what I call the dichotomized approach. 309 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,210 So, you either think that it's related. 310 00:19:58,210 --> 00:20:01,210 So, there's a reasonable causal relationship 311 00:20:01,210 --> 00:20:02,810 between the adverse event, 312 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,060 and I'll explain the blanks in a minute, 313 00:20:06,060 --> 00:20:07,280 or it's not related. 314 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,930 There's no reasonable causal relationship. 315 00:20:11,530 --> 00:20:15,880 Then there's what I call the five degrees of separation 316 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,050 or five options where you have definite, 317 00:20:19,050 --> 00:20:21,300 which means it's clearly related; 318 00:20:21,300 --> 00:20:23,850 probable, likely related; 319 00:20:23,850 --> 00:20:28,840 possible, maybe related; unlikely, doubtfully related; 320 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,290 or unrelated, clearly related. 321 00:20:32,310 --> 00:20:35,330 And the trick is really filling in the blank. 322 00:20:36,250 --> 00:20:41,600 So, if the AE is related to the investigational product, 323 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:47,160 the commercial agent, the underlying comorbid disease, 324 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:52,620 when you fill in that blank, that will then help you to know 325 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:59,030 if you have any reporting responsibilities to the IRB 326 00:20:59,030 --> 00:21:00,720 or to your sponsor, 327 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,380 who in turn may then need to report to the IRB -- 328 00:21:04,380 --> 00:21:06,450 or to the FDA, my apologies. 329 00:21:07,010 --> 00:21:11,280 The IRB is looking at the relatedness to the research. 330 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,000 So, all components of the research, 331 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,600 whereas the sponsor is often really looking 332 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:19,720 for the relatedness to the product. 333 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,470 So, teasing this out is extremely important. 334 00:21:24,470 --> 00:21:27,160 And we always do want to tease out 335 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:32,240 and try to determine how to fill in that blank and determine, 336 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,340 is there a relatedness or not? 337 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:38,870 And if the relatedness is to something else 338 00:21:38,870 --> 00:21:40,450 other than the research, 339 00:21:40,450 --> 00:21:43,980 we do owe it to our participants to determine that 340 00:21:43,980 --> 00:21:45,770 and to find out that cause. 341 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,310 So, when we start thinking about assessing of adverse events, 342 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,220 it really comes from our participants, 343 00:21:55,220 --> 00:21:56,920 you know, review of systems, 344 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,260 physical exam findings, laboratory 345 00:22:00,260 --> 00:22:02,910 and other radiologic results, 346 00:22:02,910 --> 00:22:07,430 or, you know, EKG results, things like that. 347 00:22:07,430 --> 00:22:11,880 But again, before starting on a clinical research study, 348 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,820 especially a clinical trial, 349 00:22:13,820 --> 00:22:17,130 a good baseline assessment is needed. 350 00:22:17,130 --> 00:22:20,840 And that does include finding what is abnormal. 351 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,000 So, what laboratory values are already abnormal? 352 00:22:24,550 --> 00:22:30,100 In a review of systems, what are the current symptoms 353 00:22:30,100 --> 00:22:33,120 that an individual may be experiencing? 354 00:22:34,890 --> 00:22:39,550 It's also important to assess their concomitant 355 00:22:39,550 --> 00:22:41,550 or current medications. 356 00:22:41,550 --> 00:22:44,760 Because sometimes a change in those, 357 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,340 or if a medication was recently introduced, 358 00:22:48,340 --> 00:22:53,380 possibly a day before starting on an intervention, 359 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:57,720 then the assessment might be a little bit different. 360 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,280 So, all of this baseline information 361 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,990 is extremely critical. 362 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,890 So, adverse event information should be collected really, 363 00:23:11,450 --> 00:23:15,660 as I mentioned, you know, from either the time of consent, 364 00:23:15,660 --> 00:23:18,130 if that's what the sponsor wants, 365 00:23:18,130 --> 00:23:22,020 or the initiation of the study intervention, 366 00:23:22,020 --> 00:23:25,300 or the start of a placebo lead-in period 367 00:23:25,300 --> 00:23:30,210 or there may be an observational or washout type of period 368 00:23:31,890 --> 00:23:36,580 to establish what the baseline condition of the individual is, 369 00:23:36,580 --> 00:23:40,130 which is a little bit different than the baseline going in. 370 00:23:40,130 --> 00:23:43,270 There could be two baselines, if you will, 371 00:23:43,270 --> 00:23:45,290 if you have a placebo lead-in 372 00:23:45,290 --> 00:23:47,760 or some type of an observational period. 373 00:23:49,380 --> 00:23:52,180 So, before documentation of an adverse event, 374 00:23:52,180 --> 00:23:54,870 the research team really does need to understand 375 00:23:55,590 --> 00:23:57,590 how AEs should be collected. 376 00:23:58,580 --> 00:24:02,460 In order to prevent bias, collection of adverse events, 377 00:24:02,460 --> 00:24:06,730 participants should not be questioned specifically 378 00:24:06,730 --> 00:24:13,030 regarding what we might anticipate could occur. 379 00:24:13,030 --> 00:24:15,060 So, if we do know, for example, 380 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:17,720 that there could be a change in bowel habits, 381 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,920 we wouldn't want to necessarily say, 382 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,130 "Have you had experienced any diarrhea? 383 00:24:23,130 --> 00:24:25,450 Have you experienced constipation?" 384 00:24:25,450 --> 00:24:28,410 But we would want to ask a general question of, 385 00:24:28,410 --> 00:24:33,740 "Have you had any changes in, you know, your bowel pattern 386 00:24:33,740 --> 00:24:37,110 or your bowel habits." So, that's really important. 387 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,990 Ideally, the adverse events should be spontaneously reported 388 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:47,560 or elicited from the participant during open-ended questioning, 389 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,990 during the examination, or during the evaluation 390 00:24:51,990 --> 00:24:56,970 of the examination review or review of systems. 391 00:24:59,670 --> 00:25:02,220 Adverse events do need to be followed 392 00:25:02,220 --> 00:25:05,010 until resolution or stabilization. 393 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,170 There are some adverse events that may never resolve. 394 00:25:09,750 --> 00:25:14,140 For example, with an oncology patient 395 00:25:14,140 --> 00:25:20,550 who has brain metastasis and receives brain radiation, 396 00:25:20,550 --> 00:25:25,350 the hair on their head or alopecia may not ever return. 397 00:25:27,100 --> 00:25:33,530 There're also some drugs that might have a toxicity 398 00:25:33,530 --> 00:25:38,210 of a neuropathy. That neuropathy may improve, 399 00:25:38,210 --> 00:25:41,830 but it may never be able to completely go away. 400 00:25:41,830 --> 00:25:43,910 So, those are a couple of examples 401 00:25:43,910 --> 00:25:46,480 of sort of the stabilization. 402 00:25:47,730 --> 00:25:50,540 So, further decreasing of severity, 403 00:25:50,540 --> 00:25:52,900 but not a total resolution. 404 00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:59,870 So, all adverse events should be documented 405 00:25:59,870 --> 00:26:02,230 in a participant's medical record, 406 00:26:02,230 --> 00:26:06,700 or in some cases for healthy volunteers, 407 00:26:06,700 --> 00:26:09,310 if a medical record is not required 408 00:26:09,310 --> 00:26:11,820 for the institution's policy, 409 00:26:11,820 --> 00:26:14,770 it may be documented in a research record 410 00:26:14,770 --> 00:26:18,560 or potentially on a case report form 411 00:26:19,670 --> 00:26:24,670 if that has been prearranged with the sponsor. 412 00:26:24,670 --> 00:26:31,010 The documentation includes, you know, the adverse event itself, 413 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:36,650 when it started, any workup or treatment that is needed. 414 00:26:37,660 --> 00:26:41,720 It is important that all healthcare providers, 415 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,310 professionals who are interacting 416 00:26:44,310 --> 00:26:46,020 with the research participant, 417 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:51,270 understands what is happening and what the research team, 418 00:26:51,270 --> 00:26:56,990 the PI, thinks the causality of the adverse event is. 419 00:26:56,990 --> 00:27:00,150 When that information isn't being shared, 420 00:27:00,150 --> 00:27:07,020 it could lead to the potential, you know, treatment of the event 421 00:27:07,020 --> 00:27:10,660 with a medication that's prohibited on the protocol. 422 00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:16,960 Or it could impact, you know, another provider's ability 423 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,810 to provide an accurate assessment and plan 424 00:27:21,940 --> 00:27:24,480 if they're not a member of a research -- 425 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,400 of the research team directly. 426 00:27:27,150 --> 00:27:32,030 So, a quality progress note, documenting an adverse event 427 00:27:32,030 --> 00:27:36,010 does need to include the date of the adverse event. 428 00:27:36,010 --> 00:27:39,110 It also could be important to note the time, 429 00:27:39,110 --> 00:27:43,230 especially when dealing with infusion reactions. 430 00:27:43,230 --> 00:27:45,720 The time from the start of the infusion 431 00:27:46,430 --> 00:27:51,750 can be extremely helpful in further developing a product 432 00:27:51,750 --> 00:27:57,950 and the timing of potentially the rate of infusion 433 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,280 as an example. 434 00:28:00,970 --> 00:28:04,880 Treatment for the event and indicating if no treatment 435 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:10,740 is needed or further treatment or an earlier repeat of a lab. 436 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,410 Those are all examples of sort of a treatment. 437 00:28:15,410 --> 00:28:17,820 There should be a description of the adverse event 438 00:28:17,820 --> 00:28:21,570 such that it can be assessed for severity 439 00:28:21,570 --> 00:28:25,540 or graded depending upon the rating scale that is used. 440 00:28:25,540 --> 00:28:28,450 As I mentioned, the adverse event attribution 441 00:28:28,450 --> 00:28:32,640 is important to document, again, for other health care providers, 442 00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:36,730 and when the adverse event begins to resolve, 443 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,170 worsen, or improve. 444 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:46,230 So, recording of adverse events, also known as data abstraction, 445 00:28:46,230 --> 00:28:48,910 is when we take what has been documented 446 00:28:48,910 --> 00:28:50,640 in the source document, 447 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:52,739 the medical record or the research record, 448 00:28:53,250 --> 00:28:57,110 and we abstract that onto a case report form. 449 00:28:58,220 --> 00:29:01,030 And that is going to be dependent on the protocol. 450 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:07,310 Some protocols may want all adverse events recorded. 451 00:29:07,310 --> 00:29:11,790 Others may only want Grade 2 through 5 452 00:29:11,790 --> 00:29:13,790 adverse events recorded. 453 00:29:13,790 --> 00:29:16,370 But the protocol should clearly outline 454 00:29:16,370 --> 00:29:19,710 what types of adverse events that have been documented 455 00:29:20,220 --> 00:29:23,230 need to be recorded on a case report form 456 00:29:23,230 --> 00:29:26,170 and used for further data analysis. 457 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,450 Though adverse event case report forms can vary 458 00:29:30,450 --> 00:29:33,160 from institution or sponsor, 459 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,370 most forms contain similar information. 460 00:29:37,890 --> 00:29:41,070 They contain what is the adverse event term, 461 00:29:42,340 --> 00:29:47,250 the date of the adverse event, the severity, the treatment, 462 00:29:47,250 --> 00:29:49,800 the attribution, the treatment, the attribution, 463 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,860 and when the adverse event resolves, 464 00:29:52,860 --> 00:29:57,510 or when the grade of the adverse event ends, 465 00:29:57,510 --> 00:30:00,310 and a new grade begins. 466 00:30:00,310 --> 00:30:04,060 So, always refer to the protocol for these recording, 467 00:30:04,060 --> 00:30:06,540 what I call recording exceptions, 468 00:30:06,540 --> 00:30:10,230 and the case report form instruction manual. 469 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:13,340 Both of those are going to be very helpful 470 00:30:13,340 --> 00:30:19,080 when it comes to then the documentation of the events 471 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,400 in the research database or on the research case report form. 472 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,810 So, in closing, assessment of adverse events 473 00:30:30,810 --> 00:30:33,720 is critical for protecting our research participants 474 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,370 in developing toxicity profiles for a drug or intervention. 475 00:30:38,370 --> 00:30:41,090 A quality baseline assessment is the first step 476 00:30:41,090 --> 00:30:43,190 in assessing an adverse event. 477 00:30:43,190 --> 00:30:47,770 Adverse events assessment includes 478 00:30:47,770 --> 00:30:49,760 asking open-ended questions 479 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:54,150 as well as reviewing results from physical exams, 480 00:30:54,150 --> 00:31:00,830 laboratory, imaging reports, other medical reports. 481 00:31:00,830 --> 00:31:03,130 All adverse events should be documented 482 00:31:03,130 --> 00:31:05,370 in either the medical or research record. 483 00:31:05,370 --> 00:31:08,600 So, all health care providers caring for the participant 484 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,590 can be aware of the event as well as its cause. 485 00:31:12,110 --> 00:31:15,480 And the attribution of the adverse event should be assessed 486 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:20,020 by the PI or provider designee and shouldn't be taken lightly. 487 00:31:20,590 --> 00:31:22,610 There are several questions that need to be addressed 488 00:31:22,610 --> 00:31:23,850 to achieve 489 00:31:23,850 --> 00:31:28,240 the most accurate attribution or causality of the event. 490 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:30,970 While all adverse events are documented, 491 00:31:30,970 --> 00:31:32,260 not all adverse events 492 00:31:32,260 --> 00:31:35,270 may need to be recorded on the case report form. 493 00:31:35,270 --> 00:31:38,790 And even fewer will need to be reported to sponsors 494 00:31:38,790 --> 00:31:40,700 and regulatory authorities, 495 00:31:40,700 --> 00:31:43,330 which will be discussed in Parts 3 and 4. 496 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,540 So, let's test your knowledge. 497 00:31:47,270 --> 00:31:50,980 The attribution of an adverse event can be determined 498 00:31:50,980 --> 00:31:54,230 by the study coordinator on the research team, 499 00:31:54,230 --> 00:31:55,830 if they are a nurse. 500 00:31:56,690 --> 00:31:57,490 True or false? 500 00:32:00,090 --> 00:32:02:090 And the answer is false. 501 00:32:02,390 --> 00:32:05,360 The severity and relationship of an AE 502 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:10,260 is completed by the PI or a provider coordinator. 503 00:32:10,260 --> 00:32:15,050 But not the study coordinator who may be a registered nurse. 504 00:32:15,050 --> 00:32:18,190 No matter how talented that coordinator is, 505 00:32:18,190 --> 00:32:20,850 the responsibility lies with the PI. 506 00:32:22,590 --> 00:32:26,440 Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Adverse Events.