Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients
| Characteristic | Current study number (%; n=270) | CARG training cohort (n=500) |
| Mean age in years (range) | 69 (65–83) | 73 (65–91) |
| Gender | ||
| Female | 121 (45) | 281 (56) |
| Male | 149 (55) | 219 (44) |
| Comorbidities | ||
| Hypertension | 114 (42) | 52% |
| Diabetes mellitus | 71 (26) | – |
| Coronary artery disease | 12 (4) | 20% |
| Chronic kidney disease | 3 (1) | – |
| Number of comorbidities | ||
| 0 | 125 (46) | 10% |
| 1 | 95 (35) | – |
| ≥2 | 50 (19) | – |
| Cancer stage | ||
| Stages I–III | 270 (100) | 191 (38) |
| Undergone resection | 210 (78) | – |
| ECOG performance status (clinician assessed) | ||
| 0/1 | 230 (85) | 402 (80) * |
| 2 | 40 (15) | 86 (17) † |
| Factors assessed in CARG | ||
| Age ≥72 years | 60 (22) | 270 (54) |
| Cancer type GI or Genitourinary | 212 (79) | 185 (37) |
| Chemotherapy dosing, standard dose | 205 (76) | 380 (76) |
| No. of chemotherapy drugs, polychemotherapy | 194 (72) | 351 (70) |
| Haemoglobin <110 g/L (male),<100 g/L (female) | 99 (37) | 62 (12) |
| Creatinine clearance <34 mL/min | 5 (2) | 44 (9) |
| Hearing, fair or worse | 19 (7) | 123 (25) |
| No. of falls in last 6 months, 1 or more | 18 (7) | 91 (18) |
| IADL: Taking medications, with some help/unable | 29 (11) | 39 (8) |
| MOS: Walking 1 block, somewhat limited/limited a lot | 17 (6) | 109 (22) |
| MOS: Decreased social activity because of physical/emotional health, limited at least sometimes | 18 (7) | 218 (44) |
| Median overall risk score | 6 | 7 |
| Risk stratification | ||
| Low risk (0–5 points) | 72 (27) | 128 (26) |
| Intermediate risk (6–9 points) | 164 (61) | 227 (45) |
| High risk (10–19 points) | 34 (13) | 109 (22) |
| Age-adjusted Charlson’s Comorbidity Index | ||
| ≤4 | 111 (41) | – |
| >4 | 159 (59) | – |
*Equivalent to KPS ≥80.
†Equivalent to KPS 60–70.
CARG, Cancer Aging Research Group; GI, gastrointestinal; IADL, Instrumental activities of daily living; KPS, Karanofsky Performance Status.