Mapping frailty and its impact in head and neck cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mapping frailty and its impact in head and neck cancer through metabolomics and imaging
IRAS ID
358613
Contact name
Catriona Douglas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Frailty is a condition that weakens the body's ability to handle stress, which includes cancer and its treatments. While often associated with aging, frailty can affect people of any age. Previous research undertaken by the team involved in this study has found that frailty is common in patients with head and neck cancer, especially in disadvantaged areas. Frailty is indeed more common in head and neck cancer than other cancer types, which may lead to increased vulnerability to the stresses of treatment in these patients. Given the higher incidence of both head and neck cancer and frailty in those who live in areas of socioeconomic deprivation, addressing frailty may be critical in reducing inequalities in cancer care.
Current frailty measures rely on clinically subjective measures and there is no widely accepted standard for evaluating it. Frailty's impact on head and neck cancer is not well understood and has rarely been studied.
Our pilot project aims to improve frailty assessment by combining innovative tools such as blood tests to assess metabolomics (similar to other studies performed by Dr Rattray's team), clinical evaluations, and imaging techniques. By studying frailty in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy we will establish baselines of frailty in head and neck cancer, investigate how frailty impacts treatment outcomes and side effects, and understand how this differs between HPV-positive and negative disease and also how deprivation and frailty are linked.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
26/WS/0032
Date of REC Opinion
9 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion