Performance Status
Another important prognostic factor is the overall health of the person, with the patient’s age an important sub-factor in this determination. Generally, the healthier a patient presents, the better he or she will respond to cancer treatments and the better chances he or she has of longer survival. When grading a patient’s health, doctors develop a figure known as a patient’s “performance status.” There are a number of competing scales used to gauge this, but the scale sponsored by the World Health Organization goes from 0 to 5, with 1 and 4 being the general limits of description.
| Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Asymptomatic |
| 1 | Symptomatic but completely ambulant |
| 2 | Symptomatic, <50%> |
| 3 | Symptomatic, >50% in bed, but not bedbound |
| 4 | Bedbound |
| 5 | Death |
Performance status is revisited at multiple times during the course of treatment. It is initially developed after diagnosis and is then updated in response to the patient’s reaction to the treatment regimen he or she is a part of.
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