This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Older patients with colorectal cancer fared worse after surgery
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Despite decreased colorectal cancer mortality across all age groups, patients aged older than 65 years are at substantially higher risk for morbidity and in-hospital death compared with younger patients, according to study results.
Researchers used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from 2001 to 2010 to review colorectal cancer resection outcomes for more than 1 million patients.
Nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of operations were performed on patients aged at least 65 years, and 22.6% were performed on patients aged at least 80 years.
Urgent hospital admissions were 1.7 times more likely to occur among patients aged at least 80 years compared with those aged younger than 65 years.
Patients aged 80 and older spent an average of 2.5 days longer in the hospital and faced $9,492 more in hospital costs than patients aged younger than 65 years.
Patients aged younger than 65 years were more likely to undergo laparoscopy than patients aged 80 years or older (46% vs. 14.1%).
Overall, mortality decreased by a mean of 6.6% among the entire population during the study period, with a 9.1% mortality reduction observed among patients aged 85 years or older.
Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality increased according to age. Compared with patients aged 45 to 64 years, researchers calculated ORs of 1.32 (95% CI, 1.18-1.49) for those aged 65 to 69 years and 4.72 (95% CI, 4.20-5.18) for those aged 85 years and older (P˂.01).
Risk-adjusted morbidity also increased according to age. Compared with patients aged 45 to 64 years, researchers calculated ORs of 1.25 (95% CI, 1.21-1.29) for those aged 65 to 69 years and 1.96 (95% CI, 1.89-2.03) for those aged 85 years and older (P˂.01).
“We believe our data not only supply the modern surgeon with tools to counsel patients but also reveal a demand for reevaluation of current care patterns, reinforcing the need for future studies to account for the changing population landscape in the United States,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts