Functional and cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms and social isolation are highly prevalent in head and neck cancer patients and associate with high risk of adverse health outcomes .
OBJECTIVES Older head and neck cancer patients are at increased risk for adverse health outcomes , but little is known about which geriatric assessment associates with poor outcome .
The aim is to study the association of functional or cognitive impairment , social environment and frailty with adverse health outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer .
Characteristics of Randomized Controlled Trials Designed for Elderly: A Systematic Review
Objectives To quantify the proportion of r and omized controlled trials ( RCTs ) specifically design ed for elderly , and to assess their characteristics , as compared to RCTs not specifically design ed for elderly . Design Review and synthesis of published literature . Measurements We search ed PubMed for articles published in the year 2012 . We included RCTs . Articles were excluded if not conducted with human subjects or if findings of secondary analyses were reported . A r and om sample of 10 % was drawn and of this selection the following trial characteristics were extracted : sample size , disease category , age of sample , and age-related inclusion criteria . Clinical trials were defined to be specifically design ed for elderly if a lower age cut-off of ≥ 55 years was used , or when participants had an average age of ≥ 70 years . Results The search strategy yielded 26,740 articles , from which a r and om sample was drawn , result ing in 2375 articles . After exclusion , data was extracted from 1369 publications . Of these 1369 RCTs , 96 ( 7 % ) were specifically design ed for elderly . In comparison with trials not design ed for older adults , trials design ed for elderly contained a significantly larger median number of participants  ( 125 vs. 80 , p = 0.008 ) significantly more trials design ed for elderly fell into the disease categories eye ( 6 % vs. 2 % , p = 0.005 ) , musculoskeletal ( 13 % vs. 7 % , p = 0.023 ) and circulatory system ( 16 % vs. 9 % , p = 0.039 ) . No significant difference was observed with regard to the other disease categories . Conclusion There is a low proportion of RCTs specifically design ed for elderly . As older patients will increasingly form the majority in medical practice , there is an urgent need for stronger evidence for the formulation of treatment guidelines specifically for older adults
Functional and cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms and social isolation are highly prevalent in head and neck cancer patients and associate with high risk of adverse health outcomes .
OBJECTIVES Older head and neck cancer patients are at increased risk for adverse health outcomes , but little is known about which geriatric assessment associates with poor outcome .
The aim is to study the association of functional or cognitive impairment , social environment and frailty with adverse health outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer .