Feasibility and acceptability of the Survivor Choices for Eating and Drinking (SUCCEED) digital health dietary intervention after colorectal cancer (CRC): A randomized pilot trial.

Abstract Background: Dietary factors after CRC are associated with risk of recurrence and death. Our objective was to develop a digital health intervention to help individuals with CRC adopt healthy dietary habits. Methods: We conducted an unblinded 12-week (wk) pilot randomized trial to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a web-based dietary intervention with text messaging among individuals with CRC at the University of California, San Francisco. Eligible patients (pts) had colon or rectal adenocarcinoma, were not receiving chemotherapy, were disease-free or had stable disease, were able to speak and read English, and had a mobile phone. We excluded pts meeting ≥4 of the 6 target dietary behaviors. Pts were randomized 1:1 to intervention or control. All pts received print materials on diet after CRC. Pts in the intervention group received 12 wks of access to a website and daily text messaging that recommended ≥5 servings (serv)/day (d) of vegetables, ≥3 serv/d of whole grains, ≥2 serv/wk of fish, ≤2 alcoholic drinks/d for men and ≤1 alcoholic drinks/d for women, and no processed meat or sugar-sweetened beverages. Pts were encouraged to use the website to track intake of target dietary factors. Primary outcomes included feasibility (enrollment, time spent on website, text message response rate) and acceptability (self-administered online questionnaire). Secondarily, we estimated the effect of the intervention on diet using 4-d diet records, body size, blood pressure, and fasting C-reactive protein, hemoglobin A1c, glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides using linear regression. Results: We screened 94 pts for eligibility; 75 were eligible and we randomized 50 to intervention (25) or control (25) between April 2017-May 2018. Over the course of the 12-wk study, the intervention arm accessed the website on a median of 2 d [interquartile range (IQR): 1-9 d] and spent a median of 28 min on the site (IQR: 4-51 min). Pts responded to a median of 15/21 text messages that asked for a reply (IQR: 8-20). 22/25 intervention pts completed the feedback survey; 82% were satisfied or very satisfied with the text messages. When asked to rate the quality of the website on a scale from 0-100, the median rating was 72 (IQR: 55-83). Diet records were available at baseline and 12 wks for 23 control and 22 intervention pts. Comparing baseline and 12 wks, intervention pts increased intake of whole grains (0.7 serv/d to 1.6 serv/d) and fatty fish (0 serv/d to 0.4 serv/d); controls did not change intake of whole grains (0.7 and 0.6 serv/d) or fatty fish (0.1 and 0 serv/d). We did not observe changes in either arm for other dietary factors, body size, blood pressure, or circulating markers. Conclusion: Individuals with CRC participating in a digital health dietary intervention engaged with text messaging more than a study website. The intervention led to changes in certain dietary behaviors. Additional work is needed to find strategies to increase engagement and modify other dietary factors. Trial Registration: NCT02965521 Funding: 5K07CA197077. Citation Format: Erin L. Van Blarigan, Stacey A. Kenfield, June M. Chan, Alan Paciorek, Li Zhang, Hilary Chan, Marissa Savoie, Andrea Grace Bocobo, Louis X. Wong, Angela Laffan, Katherine Van Loon, Chloe Atreya, Anthony Riberi, Olivier Riberi, Christine Miaskowski, Yoshimi Fukuoka, Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, Alan P. Venook. Feasibility and acceptability of the Survivor Choices for Eating and Drinking (SUCCEED) digital health dietary intervention after colorectal cancer (CRC): A randomized pilot trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Modernizing Population Sciences in the Digital Age; 2019 Feb 19-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A18.