Individuals diagnosed with cancer age between 15 and 39 years (adolescents and young adults [AYAs]) have not seen improvement in survival compared with children or older adults; clinical trial accrual correlates with survival. Unique unmet needs among AYAs related to psychosocial support and fertility preservation (FP) are associated with health-related quality of life.

We enhanced existing structures and leveraged faculty/staff across pediatric/adult oncology to create novel teams focused on AYA (age 15-39 years) care at a single center, with minimal dedicated staff and no change to revenue streams. We aimed to influence domains shown to drive survival and health-related quality of life: clinical trial enrollment, physician/staff collaboration, psychosocial support, and FP. We captured metrics 3 months after patients presented to the institution and compared them before/after Program implementation using descriptive statistics.

Among 139 AYAs (age 15-39 years) from the pre-Program era (January 2016-February 2019: adult, n = 79; pediatric, n = 60), and 279 from the post-Program era (February 2019-March 2022: adult, n = 215; pediatric, n = 64), there was no change in clinical trial enrollment(P ≥ .3), whereas there was an increase in the proportion of AYAs referred for supportive care and psychology (pediatric: P ≤ .02; adult: P ≤ .001); whose oncologists discussed FP (pediatric: 15% v 52%, P < .0001; adult: 37% v 50%, P = .0004); and undergoing FP consults (pediatric: 8% v39%, P < .0001; adult 23% v 38%, P = .02).

This team-based framework has effected change in most targeted domains. To affect all domains and design optimal interventions, it is crucial to understand patient-level and facility-level barriers/facilitators to FP and clinical trial enrollment.

This work is funded by the philanthropic support of the Vestavia Hills High School RISE Program.

Conception and design: Julie A. Wolfson, Kelly Kenzik

Financial support: Julie A. Wolfson

Administrative support: Mark W. Smith, Christina M. Croney

Provision of study materials or patients: Ravi Bhatia, Sukhkamal B. Campbell, Deidre D. Gunn

Collection and assembly of data: Julie A. Wolfson, Mark W. Smith, Deidre D. Gunn, Anne Byrd Mahoney, Christina M. Croney, Lindsey Hageman, Liton Francisco, Sukhkamal B. Campbell

Data analysis and interpretation: Julie A. Wolfson, Smita Bhatia, Ravi Bhatia, Chen Dai, Sukhkamal B. Campbell, Kelly M. Kenzik

Manuscript writing: All authors

Final approval of manuscript: All authors

Accountable for all aspects of the work: All authors

AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Using Teamwork to Bridge the Adolescent and Young Adult Gap

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No potential conflicts of interest were reported.