Management Patterns of the Older Population with Cancer during The Early State Of Alarm In the Valencian Autonomous Community: The GIDO GERICOV-2020 PROJECT

Abstract

In the current care scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic, older oncology patients are especially vulnerable and find themselves facing a double threat. On the one hand, the risk of contracting an infection that we still know little about facilitated by immunosuppression and potentially aggravated by the antineoplastic treatment toxicity, co-morbidities, and the cancer severity [1]. On the other, the neoplastic disease itself, along with the risk of losing an opportunity because of the reduction of medical cancer care, due to the limitation or re-allocation of resources [2]. Therefore, one priority aspect is establishing the individual risk associated with the neoplasm and the treatment, in the context of each type of oncological patient [3]. Although cancer is assumed to be an adverse prognostic factor in patients with COVID-19 and in older persons, there is still uncertainty and a lack of robust evidence. Recommendations have surged concerning therapeutic decisions in oncology patients, and the records of cancer patients with COVID. Nevertheless, the real impact of therapeutic decisions in clinical practice remains unknown, especially in the older patient group as well as the evolution of this population group. To increase the available evidence in the current pandemic, we aimed to retrospectively record the management of patients 70 years and older with cancer who received care in the Medical Oncology services of the hospitals belonging to the GIDO group during the early pandemic.