Journal of Women's Health · Nov 27, 2018
Do the Oncological and Surgical Outcomes of Young and Older Women Differ in the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer?
By Han EC, Park JW, Kwon YH et al.
BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to compare the surgical and oncological outcomes between young and older women with colorectal cancer (CRC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 1815 women with CRC between 2010 and 2014. Participants were divided into a young group (under the age of 65 years) and an old group (65 years and older). The surgical and oncological outcomes were compared between the two groups using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Around 45.1% (N = 819) patients were the older group. The old group had a higher comorbidity rate and a lower proportion of receiving postoperative chemotherapy. The old group also had a significantly higher blood loss (190 ± 611 mL vs. 145 ± 200 mL, p = 0.027) and a higher rate of intraoperative transfusion (5.4% vs. 3.0%, p = 0.011). They were found to develop more complications after surgery (11.7% vs. 7.8%, p = 0.015). The overall survival (OS) of the old group was lower than that of the young group (5-year OS rates: 72.8% vs. 83.8%, p < 0.001; adjusted hazard ratio: 1.86, 95% confidence interval: 1.49-2.33). However, the cancer-specific survival (CSS) was not significantly different between the old and young groups (5-year CSS rates: 84.7% vs. 84.9%, p = 0.076). CONCLUSIONS: Older women with CRC had poorer OS than young women with CRC, but had similar CSS. Therefore, the management of comorbidities along with cancer treatment may be important in older women with CRC.