Enrique Soto: Time toxicity among older patients with cancer

Enrique Soto shared a post on X, about their manuscript published in Supportive Care in Cancer: Springer Journal:

Time toxicity among older patients with cancer treated with palliative systemic therapy.

Authors: Joosje Baltussen, Paula Cárdenas-Reyes, Yanin Chavarri-Guerra, Andrea Ramirez-Fontes, Andrea Morales-Alfaro, Johanneke E. A. Portielje, Wendy A. Ramos-Lopez, Valentina Rosado-Canto and Enrique Soto-Perez-de-Celis.

”Our manuscript on Time Toxicity among older adults with cancer gerionc, led by Dr. Joosje Baltussen is now online in Supportive Care in Cancer: Springer Journal.

We report on the time toxicity of cancer care in Mexican older patients. Spoiler: it was very high.

The idea for this research came from discussions with visiting PhD fellow Joosje Baltussen about the crazy stuff institutions did with scheduling practices for patients living far away from our hospital, placing procedures over patient wellbeing.

We studied physical healthcare contact days among 158 older adults gerionc recieving palliative systemic treatments. Within the first 6 months, 21% of patient days were spent in healthcare contact!

When we looked at factors increasing time toxicity we found:

• Concurrent radiotherapy.  
• Use of cytotoxic chemotherapy. 
• Positive frailty screening gerionc.

Where associated with increased time toxicity.

Time toxicity is often overlooked, but may offset the small additive gains provided by some therapies.

This may be worse in LMICs, where healthcare is sometimes more difficult to access.

Loved working with Joosje Baltussen in this, tell us what you think!”

Source: Enrique Soto/X

Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis is a geriatric oncologist and Editor-in-Chief of ecancer’s journal Ecancermeducalscience. He serves as a liaison to the ASCO Evidence-Based Medicine Committee and is a member of the Society’s Finance Committee. His research focuses on using mobile technology to monitor older adults with cancer undergoing chemotherapy and addressing global disparities in cancer care.

Joosje Baltussen, MD, is a PhD candidate in Medical Oncology at Leiden University Medical Center. She also serves as the Chair of Young SIOG, the youth division of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG).