CN76 - Consensus views on research priorities for cancer survivorship in older adulthood: A Delphi study

Background

Few published research priority setting activities involve older adults living with or after cancer as the primary stakeholders, and those that do originate in primarily continental North American contexts. This study aims to obtain consensus on priorities for future research on cancer survivorship in older adulthood in a European context.

Methods

A modified three-round Delphi study was undertaken with experts by profession and experience in geriatric oncology. Fifty research priorities were pre-identified via a qualitative interview study with older adults living with and after cancer; these priorities were presented to participants in this Delphi study. Between June and October 2022, the Delphi expert panel determined the importance of each proposed priority for future research in geriatric oncology. Consensus was defined by at least 80% agreement on the highest three points of a 9-point Likert scale.

Results

A total of 60 people participated in rounds 1-3 of this study. In round 3, participants were older adults living with or after cancer (n=22, 40.7%) family members/carers (n=8, 14.8%), and healthcare professionals (n=17, 31.4%), advocacy professionals (n=4, 7.4%) and academics/researchers (n=3, 5.6%) working in the area of geriatric oncology. Following round 3, 37 of 55 topics (67.3%) reached consensus, of which 7 (12.7%) had greater than 95% consensus. Priority areas with highest consensus focused on development of treatment options for older adults (98%), decision-making (96%), promoting awareness of potential cancer symptoms requiring investigation in older adulthood (96%), clinical programmes to address rehabilitation (96%) and management of multimorbidity in cancer (96%) and cancer- (96%) and frailty-related outcomes (96%).

Conclusions

The results of this study provide a framework of research priorities for research in geriatric oncology survivorship, reflecting areas of highest need identified by key stakeholders, including older adults themselves. Development of treatment modalities for older adults was a notably high priority, but research to understand and address unmet needs related to diagnosis, treatment-related decision-making and rehabilitation are also key priorities identified by this expert panel.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

Dublin City University.

Funding

Irish Research Council.

Disclosure

A. Drury: Financial Interests, Institutional, Funding: Irish Research Council. K. Fessele: Financial Interests, Institutional, Funding: MSK. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.