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The SAKK cancer-specific geriatric assessment (C-SGA): a pilot study of a brief tool for clinical decision-making in older cancer patients
- Source :
- BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, Clough-Gorr, Kerri M; Noti, Lea; Brauchli, Peter; Cathomas, Richard; Fried, Marius R.; Roberts, Gillian; Stuck, Andreas; Hitz, Felicitas; Mey, Ulrich (2013). The SAKK cancer-specific geriatric assessment (C-SGA): a pilot study of a brief tool for clinical decision-making in older cancer patients. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 13(1), p. 93. London: BioMed Central 10.1186/1472-6947-13-93
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- BioMed Central, 2013.
-
Abstract
- BACKGROUND Recommendations from international task forces on geriatric assessment emphasize the need for research including validation of cancer-specific geriatric assessment (C-SGA) tools in oncological settings. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of the SAKK Cancer-Specific Geriatric Assessment (C-SGA) in clinical practice. METHODS A cross sectional study of cancer patients >=65 years old (N = 51) with pathologically confirmed cancer presenting for initiation of chemotherapy treatment (07/01/2009-03/31/2011) at two oncology departments in Swiss canton hospitals: Kantonsspital Graubunden (KSGR N = 25), Kantonsspital St. Gallen (KSSG N = 26). Data was collected using three instruments, the SAKK C-SGA plus physician and patient evaluation forms. The SAKK C-SGA includes six measures covering five geriatric assessment domains (comorbidity, function, psychosocial, nutrition, cognition) using a mix of medical record abstraction (MRA) and patient interview. Five individual domains and one overall SAKK C-SGA score were calculated and dichotomized as below/above literature-based cut-offs. The SAKK C-SGA was evaluated by: patient and physician estimated time to complete, ease of completing, and difficult or unanswered questions. RESULTS Time to complete the patient questionnaire was considered acceptable by almost all (>=96%) patients and physicians. Patients reported slightly shorter times to complete the questionnaire than physicians (17.33 +/- 7.34 vs. 20.59 +/- 6.53 minutes, p = 0.02). Both groups rated the patient questionnaire as easy/fairly easy to complete (91% vs. 84% respectively, p = 0.14) with few difficult or unanswered questions. The MRA took on average 8.32 +/- 4.72 minutes to complete. Physicians (100%) considered time to complete MRA acceptable, 96% rated it as easy/fairly easy to complete. Individual study site populations differed on health-related characteristics (excellent/good physician-rated general health KSGR 71% vs. KSSG 32%, p = 0.007). The overall mean C-SGA score was 2.4 +/- 1.12. Patients at KSGR had lower C-SGA scores (2.00 +/- 1.19 vs. 2.81 +/- 0.90, p = 0.009) and a smaller proportion (28% vs.65%, p = 0.008) was above the C-SGA cut-off score compared to KSSG. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest the SAKK C-SGA is a feasible practical tool for use in clinical practice. It demonstrated discriminative ability based on objective geriatric assessment measures, but additional investigations on use for clinical decision-making are warranted. The SAKK C-SGA also provides important usable domain information for intervention to optimize outcomes in older cancer patients.
- Subjects :
- Gerontology
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Cross-sectional study
Decision Making
Health Informatics
610 Medicine & health
Pilot Projects
Assessment
Health informatics
Clinical decision making
360 Social problems & social services
Neoplasms
Surveys and Questionnaires
medicine
Humans
Aged
business.industry
Health Policy
Medical record
Cancer
Geriatric assessment
medicine.disease
Comorbidity
Computer Science Applications
Cancer-specific geriatric assessment
Older adults
Physical therapy
Female
business
Psychosocial
Research Article
Decision-making
Older cancer patients
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14726947
- Volume :
- 13
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....12432a8b159af40d6f07943f9eb23d55