PACE-70: Practical Geriatric Assessment (PGA) Implementation Strategies and Correlative Evaluations for Older Adults with Cancer
- Clinical Transformation,
- Health Equity
PACE-70 is a hybrid implementation-effectiveness study evaluating the real-world feasibility of the Practical Geriatric Assessment in community oncology practices across Penn. The study focuses on adults 70 & older with advanced cancers starting a new line of systemic therapy, aiming to bring evidence-based geriatric oncology into routine practice.
Older adults represent the majority of patients with cancer, yet they are dramatically underrepresented in clinical trials. More than 70% of patients over age 70 experience severe treatment-related side effects, but geriatric assessments—which help clinicians tailor therapy—remain rarely used in routine oncology.
PACE-70 seeks to change this by embedding the ASCO-endorsed Practical Geriatric Assessment into electronic health records at three Penn community sites (Princeton, Pennsylvania Hospital, Lancaster). The study will measure how often the PGA is completed (primary outcome), whether findings lead to dose modification for vulnerable patients (secondary outcome), and how digital metrics such as Fitbit step counts and CT-based body composition analyses correlate with treatment toxicity, hospitalization, quality of life, and survival (exploratory outcomes). Through this pragmatic, system-level study, PACE-70 is testing scalable strategies to make geriatric-informed care a standard part of oncology.
By integrating geriatric assessment with digital health tools, PACE-70 will generate new evidence on how to personalize treatment for older adults while minimizing harm. Findings will guide future guidelines, inform implementation strategies, and lay the groundwork for a Penn-wide model of supportive oncology tailored to older patients.
Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Lancaster General Health / Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute; Pennsylvania Hospital; Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I)
Project Leads
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Samuel Takvorian
MD, MSHP
Deputy Director, PC3I & Director, PC3I's Program in Patient-Generated Health Data
