Abstract
Introduction
In multiple settings, sex disparities have been seen in diagnosis, treatment, and
outcomes. This study sought to determine whether there are sex differences in a geriatric
oncology clinic concerning results of the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA)
and treatment recommendations.
Materials and Methods
This is a retrospective cohort study including patients ≥65 years old referred for
consultation on cancer treatment decision-making who underwent a CGA between July
2015 and December 2020, in a single Canadian academic geriatric oncology (GO) clinic.
We examined differences by sex, stratified by disease site, stage, treatment intent,
CGA results by domain, final treatment plan, and referrals for abnormal CGA findings.
Differences were assessed using chi-square, Fisher's exact, or t-test as appropriate. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to examine whether
sex impacted recommendations to reduce treatment intensity.
Results
In the study period, 328 patients were assessed in the GO clinic (mean age 81 years).
The most common cancer types were gastrointestinal (42.1%), hematologic (18.3%), and
head and neck (17.3%). More males than females were assessed in the GO clinic (62.2%
versus 37.8%, respectively). This proportion did not change over time (p = 0.58). The GO clinic recommended to reduce treatment intensity in 140 cases (42.7%),
with no difference between sexes in adjusted models (43.6% of females and 42.2% of
males, p = 0.80). There were no differences in any CGA domain by sex. There were also no differences
in referrals made by the GO clinic to optimize abnormal CGA domains by sex.
Discussion
Sex itself did not impact treatment decision-making, nor referrals to optimize abnormal
CGA domains in our GO clinic using CGA-based care.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 10, 2022
Accepted:
November 30,
2022
Received in revised form:
November 24,
2022
Received:
June 11,
2022
Identification
Copyright
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