Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are reports coming directly from patients about how they function or feel in relation to a health condition and its therapy, without interpretation of the patient’s responses by a physician or anyone else1 (Box 1). PROs are increasingly used in clinical research, and their usefulness to inform clinicians’ and patients’ decisions about treatment alternatives is beginning to be understood.3 But results of empirical testing of using PROs in clinical practice have been inconsistent, and ascertaining the circumstances under which PROs are truly helpful beyond research settings remains a challenge.
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