Prediction of Chemotherapy Toxicity and Survival in Elderly Cancer Patients by Using CARG Score (Cancer and Aging Research Group Score)

Elderly patients (age ≥65 years) with cancer represent a growing proportion of patients in oncology clinical practice, primarily due to increasing life-spans as well as medical progress contributing to decreased morbidity and mortality from other causes.

Treatment decision-making for elderly patients with advanced cancer is often more complex than decision-making in younger cancer patients. The elderly population is heterogeneous in terms of their overall health status beyond their cancer diagnosis.

The risk of severe chemotherapy toxicity is one of the most important factors oncologists consider when recommending a treatment plan, and in elderly patients with advanced cancers, 25% to 60% of patients are treated with a planned dose reduction for their first chemotherapy cycle. These dose reductions are usually made on the basis of chronologic age and ECOG performance status, variables well known to be poor predictors of chemotherapy toxicity risk and tolerability of treatment.

Clinical prediction tools provide physicians with more accurate means for identifying patients who are at low or high risk of adverse outcomes.

The cancer Aging Research Group (CARG) risk score, developed by Hurria and colleagues, is a validated geriatric assessment tool that predicts for significant chemotherapy-related toxicities (grades 3-5) in older North American adults aged ≥65 years starting on chemotherapy.