Young women with metastatic colorectal cancer survived longer than young men

Young women with metastatic colorectal cancer demonstrated a more favorable survival rate than young men, but researchers found opposite results for older men and women, leading them to suggest that hormone therapy may play a role in colorectal cancer prognosis.

Researchers evaluated the interactions between sex, age, ethnicity and year of diagnosis on OS in 52,882 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, diagnosed from 1988 to 2003, using the SEER registry.

Women aged 18 to 44 years with metastatic colorectal cancer had an OS of 17 months compared with 14 months for men in the same age group (P<.0001). However, women aged 55 years and older had an OS of just seven months compared with nine months for men in the 55-and-older age group (P<.0001). These differences remained after the researchers evaluated only for cancer-specific survival.

The researchers found a widening of gender discrepancies since 2000. Women aged younger than 45, diagnosed from 2000 to 2004, had an OS of 20 months vs. 15 months for men in this same age group. Those women aged younger than 45 diagnosed between 1988 and 1999 had an OS of 15 months vs. 13 months for men in this same age group diagnosed during the same time period.

“We’ve known for a while that estrogen prevents colorectal cancer, but this is the first study to suggest it may improve outcomes once you have colorectal cancer,” study author Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, co-director of gastrointestinal oncology and colorectal cancer at the University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a press release.

Hendifar A et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2009;15(20):OF1-7.