Survey Predicts Tolerance to Chemotherapy for Older Patients

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The answers to eleven questions help individuals aged 65 years and older determine the risk of a severe to potentially fatal reaction to chemotherapy

Nov 18, 2014 | |

Arti Hurria of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., and colleagues have devised and tested a tool for determining chemotherapy tolerance in older patients

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The elderly—especially the very old—are the fastest-growing group of cancer patients in the U.S., according to . Determining which older patients can benefit from chemotherapy—and which ones lack the resilience to tolerate it—have therefore become increasingly urgent issues.

Arti Hurria of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., and colleagues have devised and tested a tool for determining chemotherapy tolerance in older patients. “It’s 11 questions and it’s not hard to do,” says Hurria, who just completed a two-year term as president of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology.

The questions and the scoring for each response appear below.

Risk Factor	Score
Age 72 or greater	2
Cancer type: gastrointestinal or genitourinary	2
Chemotherapy dosing: standard dose	2
More than one chemotherapy drug	2
Hemoglobin less than 11 grams per deciliter for males	3
Creatine clearance (Jelliffe formula—ideal weight):	3
Hearing: described as fair or worse	2
Number of falls in past six months: one or more	3
Needs assistance with taking medications	1
Limited in walking one block	2
Decreased social activity because of physical	1

To learn more about the research behind this 11-question survey, click .

A more detailed geriatric assessment can be found , courtesy of the Cancer and Aging Research Group.

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