A pilot study on frailty, health and functioning in older newly-diagnosed cancer patients, what have we learned?

ObjectivesThere have been few prospective observational studies with older newly-diagnosed cancer patients that have included multiple frailty, health and functional status measures. It is a challenge to conduct studies that include older patients undergoing active cancer treatment on whom a large number of factors are measured. The aim of this paper is to present the lessons we have learned from conducting this pilot study with a view to helping other researchers design and conduct prospective studies with older cancer patients undergoing cancer treatment.MaterialsWe conducted a prospective pilot study at the Segal Cancer Centre, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada recruiting newly-diagnosed patients aged 65 and over, with breast, colorectal, or lung cancer or lymphoma or multiple myeloma who had not received cancer treatment in the previous 5 years. Face-to-face interviews were conducted at baseline, 3 and 6 months follow-up, and telephone interviews were conducted at 1.5, 4.5 and 12 months follow-up. A wide array of health and functional status measures was collected in each interview.ResultsIt was feasible to recruit and retain older newly-diagnosed cancer patients although it required much more effort than anticipated. Most of our measures were acceptable and feasible, but some adaptations in our study protocol were necessary (both in our strategies as well as in our study measures).ConclusionOur pilot study provided us with very important information with regards to feasibility but also valuable preliminary data.