Poster Presentation Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

Development and application of a frailty index derived from patient reported outcome measures and comorbidities in oncology patients. (#278)

Divya Dr Mathew 1 , Heather Lane 2 , David Ward 3 , Rosemary Saunders 4 , Lesley Millar 5 , Christopher Prof Etherton-Beer 6
  1. Geriatric Medicine, Royal Perth Bentley Hospitals, Perth, WA, Australia
  2. Geriatric Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA, Australia
  3. Centre of Health Services Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia
  4. Centre for Research in Aged Care, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia
  5. Medical School, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
  6. Geriatric Medicine, Medical School, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

Aim: There is emerging evidence for using the Frailty Index as an objective measure of frailty. This is likely to have utility in the management of older cancer patients. We constructed a Frailty Index from patient derived outcome measures (PROM), as well as self-reported comorbidity data and tested its correlation with survival.

 

Method: Data from 464 patients with lung, breast and colorectal cancer were obtained from the Continuous Improvement in Care - Cancer Project database and a 42-variable Frailty Index was generated. It was calculated by dividing the total number of deficits present by the total number assessed and expressed as a ratio between 0 and 1. Frailty was defined as a Frailty Index of >0.2. Its association with survival was assessed using Cox Proportional Hazard Models.

 

 Results: Frailty index scores ranged from 0.00 to 0.58 (mean = 0.16, standard deviation = 0.12) and approximated a gamma distribution. Each year of patient age was associated with a small but significant increase in scores (0.001 points, P = .035). Among patients with lung cancer or colorectal cancer, women had significantly higher scores than men (mean difference = 0.06, P = .003). For every 0.1 increase in Frailty Index, there was a statistically significant increased risk of death. The probability of mortality was higher in the frail cohort compared to the non-frail cohort (HR 1.96, P = .027).

 

Conclusion: Our data suggests that a self-reported PROM and comorbidity-derived Frailty Index is feasible and a valid measure of frailty in oncology patients.