Geriatric Assessment Predicts Non-Fatal Toxicities and Survival for Intensively Treated Elderly Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Prospective Study

Introduction

Geriatric assessment (GA) typically refers to a multidimensional evaluation designed to evaluate an older person's functional ability, physical health, cognition, psychological health, nutritional status, and social support. The purpose of GA is to develop time-efficient and straightforward tools to evaluate multiple patient characteristics, which may be predictive of treatment outcomes of elderly acute myeloid leukemia (eAML) patients treated with intensive chemotherapy. Given that there have been few prospective studies with conflicting results, we performed a single-center prospective observational cohort study (#KCT0002172) investigating the prognostic value of multiparameter GA domains for eAML patients' tolerance and survival outcomes after intensive chemotherapy.

Patients and methods

Newly diagnosed eAML patients aged over 60 years who received intensive chemotherapy (n=105) were prospectively enrolled between November 2016 and December 2019. The median age was 64 years (range, 60-75), and they were all considered fit for intensive chemotherapy, with adequate performance and organ function. All the enrolled patients were administered various questionnaires for pretreatment GA and functional evaluation, which included evaluation for social and nutritional support, cognition, depression, distress, and physical function.

Results

Of the 105 enrolled patients, 93% had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score of 1 and received intensive chemotherapy. Among them, between 32.4% and 69.5% of patients met the criteria for impairment on each GA domain. Physical impairment measured by the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) was significantly associated with non-fatal toxicities of Grade III-IV severe infection (odds ratio (OR) 3.000, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.159-7.788, p=0.024) and acute renal failure (OR 3.891, 95% CI, 1.329-11.39, p=0.013). Cognitive dysfunction measured by the Mini-Mental Status Examination- Korean version of CERAD Assessment Packet was significantly associated with a higher risk of Grade III-IV infection (OR 2.667, 95% CI, 1.025-6.939, p=0.044) and prolonged hospitalization (OR 4.208, 95% CI, 1.485-4.229, p=0.005). Reduced physical function measured by the SPPB and depressive symptoms measured by the Korean version of Short form Geriatric Depressive Scale (SGDS-K) were predictive of worse overall survival (OS; hazard ratio (HR) 1.917, 95% CI, 1.074-3.420, p=0.027 and HR 1.902, 95% CI, 1.005-3.602, p=0.048). SPPB impairment was also significantly related to higher treatment-related mortality (TRM; HR 2.023, 95% CI, 11.057-3.874, p=0.033). Furthermore, gait or sit-and-stand speed, a component of SPPB, was the single most powerful tool to predict survival outcomes of both OS (HR 2.766, 95% CI, 1.471-5.200, p=0.002 and HR 3.615, 95% CI, 1.868-6.999, p<0.001) and TRM (HR 2.461, 95% CI, 1.233-4.913, p=0.011 and HR 3.814, 95% CI, 1.766-8.237, p<0.001). We reconfirmed the prognostic value of preexisting survival prediction models, Wheatley index scores, and web-based AML scores, contrasting to the lack of significance of Ferrara criteria. The addition of SPPB/SGDS-K or gait (or sit-and-stand) speed/SGDS-K improved the predictability of the Wheatley index and web-based AML scores with 69% and 90% relative increases in predictive power for survival, respectively.

Conclusions

We prospectively demonstrated the prognostic value of physical and psychological assessment by GA for survival outcomes in intensively treated eAML patients. Gait or sit-and-stand speed was the single most powerful tool to identify frailty and predict survival outcomes. The prognostic value of preexisting survival prediction models, Wheatley index scores, and AML scores was reconfirmed.. The addition of measures for physical function and depression improved the predictability of those prediction models for survival. Cognitive and physical impairment were able to identify non-fatal toxicities during intensive chemotherapy in eAML patients. Our data will facilitate the incorporation of GA measures into validated survival prediction models to determine initial treatment for eAML patients in routine clinical care and clinical trials. Further studies are warranted to determine the best ways to adjust the care provided for frail patients to improve treatment tolerance and outcomes.