Improving infectious adverse event reporting for children and adolescents enrolled in clinical trials for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A report from the Children’s Oncology Group

Elgarten CW, Thompson JC, Angiolillo A, Chen Z, Conway S, Devidas M, Gupta S, Kairalla JA, McNeer JL, O’Brien MM, Rabin KR, Rau RE, Rheingold SR, Wang C, Wood C, Raetz EA, Loh ML, Alexander S, Miller TP. Improving infectious adverse event reporting for children and adolescents enrolled in clinical trials for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2022 Nov;69(11):e29937. doi: 10.1002/pbc.29937. Epub 2022 Sep 9. PubMed PMID: 36083863; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9529813.

Infections cause substantial morbidity for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Therefore, accurate characterization of infectious adverse events (AEs) reported on clinical trials is imperative to defining, comparing, and managing safety and toxicity. Here we describe key processes implemented to improve reporting of infectious AEs on two active phase III Children’s Oncology Group (COG) ALL trials. Processes include: (1) identifying infections as a targeted toxicity, (2) incorporation of infection-specific case report form questions, and (3) physician review of AEs with real-time data cleaning. Preliminary assessment of these processes suggests improved reporting, as well as opportunities for further improvement.