The Geriatric 8 (G8) Score as a Predictor of Postoperative Outcomes in Elderly Patients Undergoing Surgical Interventions for Malignancies

Background: The fact that a higher incidence of cancer occurs in people aged above 65 years has attracted attention to the importance of offering specific care for elderly patients. Conventional preoperative assessment usually dismisses geriatric syndromes. Comprehensive Geriatric assessment is a significant prognostic factor for survival and provides tailored interventions for patients. However, it consumes time and is not necessary for each patient. Therefore, screening tools are becoming important which are brief, and easily done, unlike extensive CGA.Aim: To assess the ability of the Geriatric 8 (G8) questionnaire to predict postoperative outcomes in elderly patients.Methodology: A prospective cohort study on 135 elderly patients above 60 years of age, undergoing surgical interventions for malignancies. Preoperatively, the G8 score was done with an assessment of comorbidities and function. Following their surgeries and during their hospital stay, patients were assessed for complications; mortality, length of hospital stay, return to operation room, thromboembolic events, hospital-acquired infections and pressure ulcers.Results: The mean age of the study population is 73 years. 76.3% males and 23.7% females. Upper GIT tumours are the most common malignancy, followed by colorectal and hepatobiliary. The sensitivity of the G8 score for predicting mortality was found to be 64.9% with 71.4% specificity and 84.3% negative predictive value.Conclusion: In the current study, the G8 has proven to be a specific, accurate and easy assessment tool to predict postoperative complications in elderly patients at a cutoff score of 7 as regards mortality, return to OR, hospital-acquired infections, length of hospital stay and pressure ulcers.