KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The trial aimed to hypothesize that older adults with cancer who have a history of falls before chemotherapy are likelier to be hospitalized during chemotherapy.
- The primary endpoint was to determine whether the patient was hospitalized during chemotherapy due to chemotherapy toxicity.
- The study found fall history before chemotherapy raises hospitalization risk in early breast cancer women pts.
Hospitalizations are common and harmful complications of cancer treatment in older adults. Geriatric assessments can identify at-risk patients (pts) but are time-consuming. Screening for falls in the past 6 months is a quick and easy way to identify pts at risk for hospitalization due to chemotherapy toxicity.
Researchers aimed to hypothesize that older adults with cancer who have a history of falls before chemotherapy are likelier to be hospitalized during chemotherapy.
The study involved 497 women aged 65 or older with stage I-III breast cancer who received neo/adjuvant chemotherapy; they investigated the impact of their self-reported fall history in the past 6 months, considering it both as a binary (yes/no) and a continuous variable (number of falls). The primary endpoint was to determine if there was a connection between their fall history and hospitalization during chemotherapy, defined as either a yes or no outcome based on hospitalization incidents linked to chemotherapy toxicity. They used multivariable logistic regression to analyze this association while accounting for sociodemographic and clinical factors.
The study included 497 pts with a median age of 70 (65-86), 65% of whom had stage II/III breast cancer, 37% received anthracycline, and 72% had primary prophylaxis with G-CSF. Among the pts, 12% (60 individuals) reported falls at baseline(median 1.0 [1-6]). During chemotherapy, 23% (114 individuals) were hospitalized with (median 1.0 [1-4]) hospitalizations. The most common reasons for hospitalization were febrile neutropenia (25%), anemia (13%), dehydration (13%), and fatigue (13%). The analysis revealed that women who had experienced falls 6 months before chemotherapy had significantly higher odds of being hospitalized during chemo than those who had not fallen (adjusted OR = 2.69, 95% CI 1.42-5.11, P= 0.003).
The study found fall history before chemotherapy raises hospitalization risk in older women with early breast cancer. Oncologists should screen for falls to guide personalized treatment decisions.
Source: https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.12035#:~:text
Clinical Trial: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01472094
Jingran Ji, Can-Lan Sun, Tanya Marya Wildes, Rachel A. Freedman, Allison Magnuson, Tracy O’Connor, Beverly Moy, Heidi D. Klepin, Andrew E. Chapman, William P. Tew, Efrat Dotan, Mary Anne Fenton, Heeyoung Kim, Marie Bae, Vani Katheria, Cary Philip Gross, Hyman B. Muss, Harvey Jay Cohen, and Mina S. Sedrak. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.12035 Journal of Clinical Oncology 41, no. 16_suppl (June 01, 2023) 12035-12035.
