Patterns of care and treatment outcomes for elderly women with cervical cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is common in the elderly. The authors examined the patterns of care, treatment, and outcomes of elderly women with cervical cancer. METHODS: Women with cervical cancer diagnosed between 1988 and 2005 and registered in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database were analyzed. Patients were stratified by age: <50, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and ≥80 years. Multivariate logistic regression models were constructed to examine treatment; cancer-specific survival was examined using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: A total of 28,902 women were identified, including 2543 women 70 to 79 years old and 1364 ≥80 years. For women with early stage (IB1-IIA) tumors, primary surgery was performed in 82.0% of women <50 years old compared with 54.5% of those 70 to 79 years old and 33.2% of those ≥80 years old (P <50 years old versus 9.1% of patients ≥80 years old (P <50 years old, those >80 years old were less likely to undergo radical hysterectomy (odds ratio [OR], 0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.07-0.14) and lymphadenectomy (OR, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.08-0.16) and to receive adjuvant radiation therapy (OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01-0.35). Among women with stage IIB-IVA disease, use of brachytherapy declined with age (P