Does frailty predict hospitalization, emergency department visits, and visits to the general practitioner in older newly-diagnosed cancer patients? Results of a prospective pilot study.
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.
Puts
M T E
MT
Solidage Research Group on Frailty and Aging, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital Montreal, Canada. martine.puts@utoronto.ca
Monette
J
J
Girre
V
V
Wolfson
C
C
Monette
M
M
Batist
G
G
Bergman
H
H
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014600:Utilization Review