The prevalence and outcomes of frailty in older cancer patients: a systematic review

 Note: only 1 study included ovarian cancer patients (2007) with no outcomes reported:

(reference: Wedding [38] 2007 Germany 180 Outpatient Haematological, gastrointestinal,
lung, breast,ovary, other)

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 To our knowledge, this is the first review of the prevalence and outcomes of frailty in
older cancer patients. Three recent reviews [42–44] have investigated the use of
geriatric assessment in older cancer patients, mainly focusing on diagnostic accuracy, but none have investigated the identification of frailty to predict outcomes.

Conclusion

More than half of older cancer patients have pre-frailty or frailty and these patients are at increased risk of chemotherapy intolerance, postoperative complications and mortality. The findings of this review support routine assessment of frailty in older cancer patients to guide treatment decisions, and the development of multidisciplinary geriatric oncology services.