Abstract: Objective: To analysis the latent categories of Intrinsic Capacity (IC) in elderly cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, analyze the controllable influencing factors for each category, and provide targets for personalized intervention measures tailored to populations with distinct characteristics. Methods: A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 330 elderly cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy as research participants in a tertiary grade A hospital in Jiangsu province from September 2023 to June 2024. Questionnaire investigation was conducted using the General Information Questionnaire, Health Literacy Assessment Scale, Ageing Perceptions Questionnaire, and Intrinsic Capacity Assessment Tool. Latent categories of patients' IC were analyzed, and the influencing factors of latent categories of IC in elderly cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were explored using multiple Logistic regression. Results: The IC of elderly cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were divided into three latent categories, namely, "IC relatively high" (22.15%), "low sensory-low motion" (31.51%), and "low cognition-low psychological" (43.33%). Multiple Logistic regression analysis showed that smoking history, age, education level, number of chemotherapy, health literacy, and self-perceived aging were influencing factors of the latent class of IC (P<0.05). Conclusion: The decline of IC in elderly cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy has obvious category characteristics. Healthcare professionals should formulate targeted and personalized nursing measures according to the interventionable influencing factors of different groups to improve the IC level of patients.

Key words: Intrinsic Capacity; health literacy; self-perceived aging; latent class analysis