Cross-discipline
Cross-discipline

Older Adult

Description

The Older Adult Council (OAC) is a think-tank to actively promote clinical and translational research in older adults with cancer both within EORTC and beyond. It will identify and define older adult research questions, address methodological questions (like frailty, quality of life, treatment toxicities, patient preferences, etc.), and guide the development of international initiatives that improve outcomes for older patients.

Why Research in Older Adults Matters?

Cancer disproportionately affects older adults, yet this population remains under‑represented in clinical trials, making evidence‑based decision‑making difficult in routine practice. Older individuals may experience frailty, comorbidities, or different treatment tolerances, all of which require specifically designed research approaches to ensure safe and effective cancer care.

EORTC is committed to reducing this evidence gap through patient‑centred research that integrates clinical, methodological, and translational innovation.

Geriatric oncologists and oncologists in charge of older patients have two main challenges:

  • Selecting patients for specific treatments, considering medical history and comedication
  • The delicate balance of prolonging their survival, whilst maintaining independence and quality of life.

Since older adults are under-represented in cancer clinical trials, producing evidence-based recommendations in everyday clinical practice remains challenging.

Main Achievements

The Elderly Minimal Dataset

A standardised Elderly Minimal Dataset (MinDS) allows to harmonise the collection of data relevant to the elderly and enable future cross-study and practice comparisons. All EORTC clinical trials now use the Elderly Minimal Dataset, in particular, G8 screening for patients who are more than 70 years old.

Contribution to the development of an elderly-specific quality of life assessment tool, the QLQ-ELD14 module. This quality-of-life scale is already integrated in some studies of the elderly.

QLQ-ELD14

The OAC has contributed to the development of an elderly-specific quality of life assessment tool, the QLQ-ELD14 module. This quality-of-life scale is already integrated in some studies focusing on older patients.

Outcome of the breast clinical trial with pertzumab and trasuzumab in older patients

The results of EORTC 75111-10114 showed that the addition of metronomic oral cyclophosphamide to trastuzumab plus pertuzumab led to an increased median progression-free survival by 7 months compared with dual HER2 blockade alone, with an acceptable safety profile.

 

OAC - Chairs

  • Chair

    Paolo Bossi

    Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Degli Spedali Civili di Brescia

    Brescia, Italy

  • Co-chair

    Emilie Le Rhun

    UniversitaetsSpital Zurich - Neurology Clinic

    Zurich, Switzerland

  • Past chair

    Lissandra Dal Lago

    CHIREC

    Brussels, Belgium

Additional People

  • L. Dal Lago - Brussels, BE

    Geriatric assessment, frailty assessment

    CHIREC

  • P. Bossi - Brescia, IT

    Translational research, Competing mortality

    Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Degli Spedali Civili di Brescia

  • V. Thibaud - Lille, FR

    Educational activities

    Hopital Saint-Vincent de Paul

  • P. Bonomo - Florence, IT

    Patient’s preferences

    Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi

  • E. Le Rhun - Zurich, CH

    Clinical trial design

    UniversitaetsSpital Zurich - Neurology Clinic

  • N. Luca Battisti - London, UK

    ECI

    The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

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