Factors associated with referral for perioperative geriatric comanagement (GERI-CO) program in 12,398 older adults with cancer.

Abstract

12034 Background: At ASCO 2019, we showed that the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Geriatric Co-management (GERI-CO) program was associated with improvement in 90-day postoperative mortality rate. Now, we present factors associated with the use of such program. Methods: At MSK, patients aged 75+ can be referred for perioperative GERI-CO. We retrospectively reviewed the available data of patients aged 75+ who underwent surgery within two months of their initial visit with the surgeon (2011 to 2019). Patients that were referred for GERI-CO were compared with those who were not: sociodemographic, frailty, comorbid conditions, and surgery characteristics. Frailty level was determined using the MSK Frailty Index (score ranges from 0-11, higher scores suggest more frailty). Multivariable regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with the use of the GERI-CO Program. Results: In total 12,398 patients (4422, 35.7% GERI-CO) were included. Average time from surgical consult to geriatric visit was 9 days. Patients in the GERI-CO program were older (80.7 vs. 79.6), less likely to be non-Hispanic White (87% vs. 91%), have English as primary language (84% vs. 89%), and be fit (12% vs. 17% with MSK-FI 0). They were more likely to have stroke history (5% vs. 4%), have diabetes (DM) (25% vs.20%), hypertension (78% vs. 71%), and peripheral vascular disease (14% vs. 12%), but less likely to have cardiac disease (22% vs. 26%), myocardial infarction (MI) (7% vs. 10%), pulmonary disease (13% vs. 16%). Patients referred for GERI-CO were more likely to undergo 3+ hours surgeries (25% vs. 8%), with 100+ cc intraoperative blood loss (41% vs. 22%), and hospital length of stay (LOS) of 3+ days (42% vs. 19%). In multivariable analysis, being frail (OR = 1.3 and 1.6 for MSK-FI 1-2 and 3+), longer surgery (OR = 2.6 and 3.6 for operation time 1.5-3 and 3+ hours), longer LOS (OR = 1.3 and 1.5 for LOS 1-2 and 3+ days), older age (OR = 1.06), having DM (OR = 1.15) were associated with higher likelihood of GERI-CO while having history of cardiac disease (OR = 0.55), MI (OR = 0.84), pulmonary disease (OR = 0.69) were associated with less likelihood of referral for GERI-CO. Conclusions: Our result shows the unique characteristics of patients managed in the GERI-CO program. This has implications for both implementation of GERI-CO program in other institutions and assessing outcomes of these patients.