We designed this study to assess and compare the value of KPS and PPT as pre-screening tools for vulnerable elderly cancer patients using the CGA as a gold standard.
This is a prospective interventional study including cancer patients aged more than 70 years. Direct assessments were realized using a questionnaire composed of KPS, PPT and CGA, constructed by the authors after a review of the literature.
One hundred patients were included (median age 76 years–extremes 70–89). KPS and PPT were found to be positively correlated (Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.680, P value < 0.001) with each other and negatively correlated with CGA with the former having a higher absolute r value (−0.779 vs −0.654 respectively, P < 0.05). All two had poor discrimination capacities when identifying patients having ≥2 impairments on the CGA, by means of a ROC curves analysis (area under the curve (AUC) for KPS = 0.206 versus 0.198 for PPT, with a P value > 0.05 on pair-wise comparison).
Neither KPS nor PPT were found to be good pre-screening tools for vulnerable elderly cancer patients in the outpatient setting. The CGA remains the preferred method for assessing alterations in geriatric domains.