Development and validation of an early death risk score for older patients treated with chemotherapy for cancer

• Published in: Journal of clinical oncology Vol. 38; no. 15_suppl; p. 12030
• Main Authors: Feliu Batlle, Jaime, Pinto, Alvaro, Basterretxea, Laura, Paredero Pérez, Irene, Llabres, Elisenda, Jimenez-Munarriz, Beatriz, Rebollo, Maite Antonio, Losada Vila, Beatriz, Espinosa, Enrique, Girones, Regina, Custodio, Ana B., Muñoz, María del Mar, Díaz-Almirón, Mariana, Gómez-Mediavilla, Jeniffer, Torregrosa, Maria Dolores, Soler, Gemma, Cruz, Patricia, Higuera, Oliver, Molina-Garrido, MJ
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 20.05.2020
• ISSN: 0732-183X; 1527-7755
• DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.12030

Abstract only 12030 Background: Determining life expectancy in older patients is needed to select the best treatment strategy. We aimed to develop and validate a score to predict early death risk ( < 6 months) in elderly patients with cancer that are planned to initiate chemotherapy treatment. Methods: Patients over 70 years starting new chemotherapy regimens were prospectively included in a multicenter study. A pre-chemotherapy assessment that included sociodemographics, tumor/treatment variables, and geriatric assessment variables, was performed. Association between these factors and early death was examined by using multivariate logistic regression. Score points were assigned to each risk factor based on their b coefficient. We validated the risk score with an external validation cohort of 206 patients. Results: Three hundred forty two patients were included in the training cohort. The independent predictors for early death were metastasic cancers (odds ratio [OR] 4.8, 95% confidence interval [CI], [2.4-9.6]), ECOG performance status (OR 2.3, 95% CI:1.084-5.232), ADL (OR 1.7, 95% CI:1.08-3.5), serum albumin levels (3.3, 95% CI: 1.6-6.6), BMI (OR 2.4, 95% CI:1,2-4.8), serum GGT levels (OR 1.5, 95% CI:1.05-1.8) and hemoglobin levels (OR 2.3, 95% CI:1.2-4.6). With these results, a score was to stratify patients regarding their risk of early death: low (0 to 2 points; 5%), intermediate (3 to 5 points; 19%) or high (6 to 14 points; 50%) (p < 0.001). The area under the curve of the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.79 for the training cohort (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.85), and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.60-0.80) for the validation cohort (difference between cohorts not statistically different). Conclusions: We developed a highly accurate tool that uses basic clinical and analytical information to predict the probability of early death in elderly patients with cancer that are planned to initiate chemotherapy treatment. This tool can help physicians in decision making for this population of patients.