A systematic review of generic and breast cancer specific life expectancy models in the elderly

This review highlighted a variety of validated prognostic indexes. Several models with very good accuracy were identified but most were validated in US-populations and relied on information from administrative datasets. One breast specific model by Stotter et al. was identified, specifically to aid treatment planning for frail elderly patients but had limited accuracy. The strength of an index will ultimately be on its clinical impact and influence on treatment decisions rather than its accuracy and as of yet no trials exploring this have been carried out.