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 ) .
Lymphoma in elderly patients: novel functional assessment techniques provide better discrimination among patients than traditional performance status measures.
BACKGROUND Age > 60 years and impaired performance status ( PS ) are adverse prognostic features in the International Prognostic Index for non-Hodgkin 's lymphoma ; however , patients aged > 60 years compose a heterogeneous population , and commonly used PS measures are subjective and incomplete . PATIENTS AND METHODS Vali date d tests are used in geriatric population s to predict mortality and functional decline . The timed " up and go " test measures the time required to st and , walk a set distance , and return . The Tinetti Gait and Balance test  measures gait and balance , and the  h and grip assesses grip strength . We evaluated these tests in a heterogeneous cohort of older patients with lymphoma , as a first step in identifying prognostic subsets that might differ in the ability to tolerate disease and treatment . The mean age of the patients ( N = 25 ) was 70 years , with 13 men and 12 women . Five patients were newly diagnosed , 15 had aggressive histology , and 10 had indolent disease . Two subjects had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group PS 0 , 20 had PS 1 , and 3 had PS 2 . Assessment s could be conducted in < 5 minutes . Within the largest group ( PS 1 ; n = 20 ) , these tests demonstrated a range of functional status measures . RESULTS The interquartile range/median ( higher values reflect greater variance ) was 73.1 for the h and grip , 42.3 for the " up and go , " and 1.8 for the Tinetti test . CONCLUSION Accepted geriatric assessment tools can identify subgroups of older patients with lymphoma with distinct functional status . Prospect i ve trials in larger and more homogeneous patient population s will define the potential of these tools to assist in guiding therapy and predicting outcomes
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 ) .