title: Survivorship care for older adults with cancer: U13 conference report.
abstract: Older adult cancer survivors currently account for almost 60% of all cancer survivors. The number of older cancer survivors will continue to increase as the population ages and as patients' live longer after a cancer diagnosis. As part of cancer center accreditation, the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer® (CoC) has placed great importance on survivorship care planning. While the CoC has set standards for general survivorship care, there is sparse evidence on how to best care for older adult cancer survivors. Concern exists among the medical community that survivorship care plans could increase paperwork without improving outcomes. Given the diverse and unique needs of older adult cancer survivors, the inter-professional team provides a structure and process for survivorship care built around the particular needs of older adults. The Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG), in partnership with the NIA/NCI, held a U13 conference in May 2015 in part to discuss survivorship care for older adults with cancer. This report discusses four themes that emerged from one section of the conference: (1) survivorship care is a process that continually evolves to meet the needs of older adults; (2) older adult cancer survivors have unique needs and care plans should be tailored to meet these needs; (3) the inter-professional team is ideally suited to structure survivorship care of older adults; (4) patient advocacy must be encouraged throughout the cancer care continuum. As evidence based survivorship practices develop, the unique needs of older adults need to be given substantial attention.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Division of Hematology and Oncology, 170 Manning Drive Campus Box 7305, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7305, USA. Electronic address: eguerard@unch.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Emily J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Guerard
authors.affiliation: Jefferson College of Pharmacy, Thomas Jefferson University, 901 Walnut Street Suite 946, Philadelphia, PA 19107-5233, USA.
authors.forename: Ginah
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nightingale
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, University of Connecticut, 348 Mansfield Road, Unit 2058,, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bellizzi
authors.affiliation: City of Hope, Duarte, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burhenn
authors.affiliation: Ohio State University, Division of Hematology, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosko
authors.affiliation: University of Chicago, Section of Hematology and Oncology, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Artz
authors.affiliation: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Geriatrics Service, Department of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Korc-Grodzicki
authors.affiliation: Cancer and Aging Research Group Patient Advocacy.
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Canin
authors.affiliation: University of Chicago, Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and Hematology/Oncology, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.affiliation: Division of Nursing Research and Education, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ferrell
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000073116:Cancer Survivors; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000379:methods*; D019338:Polypharmacy; D011788:Quality of Life; D000073859:Survivorship
keywords: Cancer survivor; Elderly; Inter-professional team; Multidisciplinary; Older adult; Survivorship; Survivorship care plan