Treatment Practices and Outcomes of Elderly Women with Breast Cancer in a Community Hospital

Abstract

There is a paucity of clinical data available on specific treatment in the oncogeriatric population with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate treatment patterns and survival outcomes in the elderly to address any disparities at our community hospital. We retrospectively identified a total of 1749 patients diagnosed and treated for breast cancer at our institution between 2001 and 2011. Patient demographics, surgical treatment, stage of disease, tumor characteristics, adjuvant therapy, and 5-year survival data were obtained from tumor registry records. Comparisons between study groups were made using the Pearson χ² test and Student's t test. We found more favorable prognostic makers among women older than 70 years of age. Of the women with lymph node-positive disease, 84 per cent of those younger than 70 years and 33 per cent in the older than 70 years of age study group received chemotherapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy were more frequently performed in the younger group. Overall 5-year survival was 90 per cent and 71 per cent for younger than 70 years and older than 70 years groups, respectively. Women older than 70 years of age have more favorable breast cancer characteristics compared with younger women and received less aggressive treatment and experienced a higher mortality rate. Prospective trials are needed to assess the impact of aggressive multimodality therapy in this oncogeriatric population.