Who needs a comprehensive geriatric assessment? A French Onco-Geriatric Screening tool (OGS)

Abstract Objectives To establish the accuracy of an Onco-Geriatric Screening tool (OGS) to be used by oncologists to identify patients age 75 and over whose treatment could be optimized by undergoing a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA). Materials and Methods Patients (174) were recruited for a prospective observational study. The OGS is a short 10-item score exploring five frailty risks. This test was performed by the oncologist. Each patient recruited also completed a reference test (geriatric assessment battery) performed by a geriatrician. For both tests, we identified the number of frailty risk factors (0 to 5): patients with no risk factors were considered as “fit”; patients presenting with 1 to 3 risk factors were “vulnerable”; and patients presenting ≥ 4 risk factors were “frail”. Results Patients (126; 72%) underwent both the OGS and the reference test. According to the OGS, 14 patients (11%) were “fit”, 102 (81%) were “vulnerable” and 10 (8%) were “frail”. According to the reference test, 14 patients (11%) were “fit”, 99 (79%) were “vulnerable” and 13 (10%) were “frail”. The OGS had a sensitivity of 88% (CI 95%: 80% to 93%) and a specificity of 44% (CI 95%: 28% to 63%). Conclusion The OGS is a short decision-making algorithm in French with high sensitivity that can easily help to identify vulnerable patients for whom a CGA could potentially optimize their cancer treatment. This tool is easy to implement and could be used by oncologists at the time of the first consultation.