Geriatric phone follow-up in the management of older patients treated for cancer: Telog study results

Abstract

IntroductionGeriatric assessment may require a specific follow-up implementation during oncological treatment. The main objective of our study was the nurse phone questionnaire validation, in terms of feasibility, and concordance of data collected compared to a medical geriatric follow-up (blind) consultation carried out three months after the initial assessment. Materials and methodsThis interventional, prospective, multi-center study has included patients aged 70 years and over, referred to geriatric consultation before receiving oncological treatment. Patients with an estimated life expectancy less than three months, unable to communicate by telephone or to complete the written consent, with an ECOG PS (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status) at four, or MMSE <18/30 (Mini Mental State Examination) were not included. Feasibility was considered if items were answered by phone for at least 80% of patients and, for concordance, if Cohen's Kappa coefficient was at least 0.7, between phone and consultation's answers data. Results131 patients were included with a median age of 81 years [70–95], 62.6% of women (n = 82). Phone questionnaires were completed for 78.6% of patients (n = 103) with a median duration of 12 min per call [5–37]. 95 patients have completed the study, for whom concordance was only found for IADL (Instrumental Activity of Daily Living) Medication-item. ConclusionIt is important to define the profile of older patients treated for cancer who can benefit from phone follow-up. If a phone follow-up questionnaire carried out by a nurse is proven to be accurate, it would facilitate geriatric follow-up and space out consultations.