Treatment decisions in older people with lung cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to examine the influence of the concept of frailty on treatment decision making in older people with lung cancer
IRAS ID
231439
Contact name
Clare Warnock
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
In the UK, the number of older people being diagnosed with lung cancer is increasing. Some older people will also have other health problems and might be frail. Evidence suggests that older people may not always be offered the same treatment options as younger patients but the reasons for this have not been identified. Treatment decisions may be influenced by healthcare professionals’ perceptions of an older person’s level of frailty and their ability to cope with treatment.
We would like to find out more about how treatment decisions are made with older people when they are diagnosed with lung cancer and the factors that influence this. We particularly want to explore whether older people and health care professionals think that being frail influences how decisions are made.
Tools to assess frailty have been developed that aim to provide an assessment of older people’s needs for support. Our project will investigate whether a frailty assessment tool could support decision making and help to ensure older people with lung cancer receive optimum treatments. We will do this by interviewing older people with lung cancer and health care professionals. Following this we will bring together a group of experts to identify the potential content of a frailty assessment tool. Finally, older patients and health and social care professionals will take part in group discussions to find out the potential challenges and benefits of using such an assessment tool in practice.REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1956
Date of REC Opinion
16 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion