A patient with advanced cancer who is receiving palliative chemotherapy may be at increased risk for chemotherapy-related hospitalization if certain risk factors are present. The authors are from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts, Bedfor Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Mass General/North Shore Cancer Center.
Patient selection: palliative chemotherapy
Outcome: chemotherapy-related hospitalization
Risk factors for chemotherapy-related hospitalization:
(1) younger age
(2) Charlson comorbidity score >= 1 (excluding cancer and metastatic cancer)
(3) lower creatinine clearance (renal dysfunction)
(4) lower calcium level (hypocalcemia)
(5) below normal white blood cell (< 3,800 per µL) and/or platelet count (< 150,000 per µL)
(6) therapy with multiple chemotherapeutic agents (polytherapy)
(7) therapy with camptothecin (quinoline alkaloid, analogues are topotecan or irinotecan)
where:
• A cutoff for younger age is not given. The median age was 68 years. An age < 55 will be used in the implementation.