Geriatric assessment  was most often completed to describe a patient 's health and functional status .
Geriatric assessment  in the oncology setting is feasible , and some domains are associated with adverse outcomes .
However , there is limited evidence that geriatric assessment impacted treatment decision making .
BACKGROUND Geriatric assessment is a multidisciplinary diagnostic process that evaluates the older adult 's medical , psychological , social , and functional capacity .
No systematic review of the use of geriatric assessment in oncology has been conducted .
The goals of this systematic review were : 1 ) to provide an overview of all geriatric assessment instruments used in the oncology setting ; 2 ) to examine the feasibility and psychometric properties of those instruments ; and 3 ) to systematic ally evaluate the effectiveness of geriatric assessment in predicting or modifying outcomes ( including the impact on treatment decision making , toxicity of treatment , and mortality ) .
Age, severe comorbidity and functional impairment independently contribute to poor survival in cancer patients
Purpose With the increasing number of elderly patients suffering from cancer , comorbidity and functional impairment become common problems in patients with cancer . Both comorbidity and functional impairment are associated with a shorter survival time in cancer patients , but their independent role has rarely been addressed before . Methods Within a prospect i ve trial we recruited 427 cancer patients , irrespective of age and type of cancer , admitted as in patients prior to the start of chemotherapy .  Comorbidity was assessed with the cumulative illness rating scale ( CIRS-G ) , functional impairment with WHO performance status ( WHO-PS ) , basal ( ADL ) and instrumental ( IADL ) activities of daily living . Results Median follow-up was 34.2 months . A total , 61.4 % . of patients died . Median survival time was 21.0 months . Age , kind of tumour ( solid vs. haematological ) , treatment approach ( non-curative vs. curative ) , WHO-PS ( 2–4 vs. 0–1 ) , IADL ( < 8 vs. 8) , and severe comorbidity ( CIRS-level 3–4 vs. none ) were significantly associated with shorter survival time in univariate analysis . In a multivariate Cox-regression- analysis , age ( HR 1.019 ; 95%-CI 1.007–1.032 ; P = 0.003 ) , kind of tumour ( HR 1.832 ; 95%-CI 1.314–2.554 ; P < 0.001 ) , WHO-PS ( HR 1.455 ; 95%-CI 1.059–2.000 ; P = 0.021 ) , and comorbidity level 3–4 ( HR 1.424 ; 95%-CI 1.012–2.003 ; P = 0.043 ) maintained their significant association . Conclusions Age , severe comorbidity , functional impairment , and kind of tumour are independently related to shorter survival time in cancer patients
Geriatric assessment  was most often completed to describe a patient 's health and functional status .
Geriatric assessment  in the oncology setting is feasible , and some domains are associated with adverse outcomes .
However , there is limited evidence that geriatric assessment impacted treatment decision making .
BACKGROUND Geriatric assessment is a multidisciplinary diagnostic process that evaluates the older adult 's medical , psychological , social , and functional capacity .
No systematic review of the use of geriatric assessment in oncology has been conducted .
The goals of this systematic review were : 1 ) to provide an overview of all geriatric assessment instruments used in the oncology setting ; 2 ) to examine the feasibility and psychometric properties of those instruments ; and 3 ) to systematic ally evaluate the effectiveness of geriatric assessment in predicting or modifying outcomes ( including the impact on treatment decision making , toxicity of treatment , and mortality ) .