Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
3329432 Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2010 10 Pages PDF
Abstract

Research on the use of health care by older newly-diagnosed cancer patients is sparse. We investigated whether frailty predicts hospitalization, emergency department (ED) and general practitioner (GP) visits in older cancer patients in a prospective pilot study. Newly-diagnosed cancer patients aged 65 years and over were recruited in the Segal Cancer Centre, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada. One hundred ten patients participated, mean age 74.1, 70% women. During 1 year follow-up, 52 patients (47.3%) had cancer-related hospitalizations, 23 patients (20.9%) had ED visit and 17 patients (15.5%) had GP visit. No frailty marker predicted hospitalization or visits to the GP. Cognitive impairment suspicion was the only frailty marker that predicted ED visits (odds ratio 4.97; 95%CI 1.14–21.69). Although health care use was considerable in this sample, most frailty markers were not associated with health care use in this pilot study.

Related Topics
Health Sciences Medicine and Dentistry Hematology
Authors
, , , , , , ,