The Impact of Polypharmacy on Patient Outcomes in Older Adults With Cancer.

Polypharmacy is prevalent in older adults with cancer and may be advantageous for the management of certain chronic disease states, but uncertainty exists regarding potential hazards and consequences. Cancer-related therapy adds to the prevalence of polypharmacy, which can lead to compromised cancer management plans (i.e.

Electronic Rapid Fitness Assessment: A Novel Tool for Preoperative Evaluation of the Geriatric Oncology Patient.

The American College of Surgeons and American Geriatrics Society recommend performing a geriatric assessment (GA) in the preoperative evaluation of older patients. To address this, we developed an electronic GA, the Electronic Rapid Fitness Assessment (eRFA). We reviewed the feasibility and clinical utility of the eRFA in the preoperative evaluation of geriatric patients.

Prescribing for older patients with cancer.

Pharmacotherapy in the elderly is very complex owing to age-related physiologic changes, the presence of multiple comorbidities, the use of multiple medications, the involvement of multiple prescribers and pharmacies, and an increased prevalence of cognitive deficits. The treatment of cancer and the management of symptoms related to therapy-induced toxicity significantly add to this complexity, with an increased risk of drug interactions, using potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), and adverse drug reactions. There are several ways to evaluate inappropriate prescribing, with various levels of support for their use.

Prescribing for older adults.

Pharmacotherapy of the elderly is very complex due to age-related physiologic changes, multiple comorbidities, multiple medications (prescription, over-the counter, and herbal), and multiple providers (prescribers and pharmacies). Age-related physiologic changes and disease-related changes in organ function affect drug handling (pharmacokinetics) and response (pharmacodynamics). In addition, patients' cognitive impairment, functional difficulties, as well as caregiver issues play a large role in errors and compliance.

Anticancer drug therapy in the older cancer patient: pharmacology and polypharmacy.

Older patients currently are the largest group of oncology patients and their numbers will continue to expand. There has been minimal participation of older patients in clinical trials. This has resulted in a lack of data to make high-level evidence-based decisions with regard to chemotherapy.