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 ) .
Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in Elderly Cancer Patients: An Experience in an Outpatient Population
Aims and background Cancer is an age-related disease , and the increase in life expectancy will lead to a progressive increase of cancer cases in the elderly ( ≥70 years of age ) . We have created a group called GONG ( Gruppo Oncologico Geriatrico ) to apply cancer geriatric assessment in elderly cancer patients , in order to select which of them are eligible for oncological treatment or supportive care only . Patients and methods We applied this model to evaluate 153 patients from March 2004 to August 2005 . Our model included three categories of patients : frail ( at least one of the following items : Activities of Daily Living scale < 80 , ≥3 comorbidities unrelated to the tumor according to the Charlson Index , performance status ≤60/≥3 according respectively to Karnofsky and the ECOG scale , ≥1 geriatric syndrome ) ; borderline ( patients with multiple comorbidities not affecting performance status or ability in daily activities ) ; non-frail . Results Applying the aforementioned criteria , we found 30 borderline , 14 frail and 109 non-frail patients . Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in mortality between frail and non-frail patients ( P < 0.05 ) , whereas there was no difference between borderline and non-frail patients . Conclusions Our model was thus able to identify patients at higher risk of death . These results confirm the importance of cancer geriatric assessment also for the clinical evaluation of oncological patients . Additional r and omized studies with a larger number of patients , also in an adjuvant setting , should be performed to confirm the effectiveness of this approach
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 ) .