Predictors of tolerance to chemotherapy in older cancer patients: a prospective pilot study

Few data are available to help predict which older cancer patient is at risk of developing, chemotherapy-related toxicity, This Study as a pilot for a project designing a predictive risk score. Chemotherapy patients aged 70 years and older were prospectively enrolled. Chemotherapies were adjusted for their published toxicity, 60 patients were enrolled, 59 were evaluable. Mean dose-intensity was 90.3%. range 33.3-129.0%. 47% of the patients experienced grade 4 haematological and or grade 3-4 non-haematological toxicity. Published toxicity (MAX2), diastolic blood pressure. marrow, invasion and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were all associated with toxicity (P<0.1): Body Mass Index, previous chemotherapy, red blood cells, platelets. polymedication with dose-intensity: and polymedication with FACT-G change. After adjustment for the Published toxicity the variables retained their Significance. except for LDH and polymedication (for dose-intensity). Although the size of this pilot study imposes a cautious interpretation. patient-related and chemotherapy-related variables correlated independently with toxicity. Designing, a composite predictive score to use in assessing the toxicity of multiple chemotherapy regimens therefore appears to be a valid undertaking, (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.