1827P European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)/International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) Joint Working Group (WG) survey on management of older patients with cancer

Background: ESMO and SIOG created a joint WG in 2019. Their goals are to improve management of the older cancer patients through education, dedicated resources and guidelines and to raise awareness on their specific needs and requirements. Therefore, the WG initiated a survey to describe the practice patterns worldwide. Methods: All ESMO and SIOG members received a request by email to complete the survey online on 17 Feb 2020 with subsequent reminders. Questions were focused on clinical practices, perception of geriatric oncology (GO), use of screening tools such as geriatric-8 (G8), education and knowledge of guidelines. The survey was closed on 5 Apr 2020. Results: A total of 168 participants fully completed the survey. Most of them were female (65%), aged 30-39 (58%), medical oncologists (70%) and from Europe (50%). Professionals predominantly in charge of front-line care of older patients with cancer were medical oncologists (68%);however, only 19% had a physician coordinating a GO programme at their institution. According to respondents, GO brings to oncology: detection of frailty (83%), prediction of toxicity (77%), integrative management (70%), improving older patient’s understanding of treatment and adherence (64%), providing practice guidelines (46%) and prediction of survival (41%). Most of the respondents (95%) felt the need for other scales than ECOG Performance Status, 66% knew about the G8 scale and 52% used it in their clinical practice. Non-SIOG members were significantly less aware of the G8 screening tool (56% vs 97% for SIOG members;p