This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Older, sicker women less likely to complete ovarian cancer chemotherapy
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Women oldest in age and those with more comorbidities were less likely to complete treatment with chemotherapy for ovarian cancer than younger, healthier women, according to the results of a recently published study.
However, these older women were no more likely to use health services, such as hospitalization or ED visits, than their younger counterparts.
These results were taken from a study of data from the SEER-Medicare database. Researchers identified 4,617 women aged 65 years or older with ovarian cancer diagnosed between 2001 and 2005.
Among these women, 28.8% received no chemotherapy, 24.7% received only a partial course of chemotherapy and 46.5% completed chemotherapy.
ORs indicated that the oldest women, those who were aged older than 80 years, were twice as likely to not complete chemotherapy (P<.001). Even those women aged 75 to 79 years had a 64% increased risk for not completing therapy (P<.001). In addition, those women with two or more comorbidities were 83% more likely to not complete therapy (P<.01).
These results demonstrated “that chemotherapy may be underused in elderly women and that elderly women receiving chemotherapy do not necessarily require more health services,” the researchers wrote. “These findings suggest that for the oldest women with ovarian cancer, physicians may be selecting those women they consider healthy enough to tolerate chemotherapy.”
Instead, the researchers recommended “the routine use of comprehensive geriatric assessment to formally assess functional status, comorbidities, cognition and psychological state, and social supports in older women with ovarian cancer about to embark on treatment.”
This would prevent the stratification of women for treatment based on age alone.
For more information:
- Fairfield KM. J Clin Oncol. 2011;doi:10.1200/JCO.2010.34.1552.