Abstract P1-17-06: Breast cancer in elderly women: Ageism or primum non nocere?

Abstract

Background: The risk of breast cancer increases with advancing age. Routine use of screening mammogram in women after 75yrs and its impact on overall survival is controversial. Studies have also found that elderly breast cancer patients are underrepresented among clinical trials and a tendency for undertreatment may result in inferior outcome. Method and Material:Female patients with breast cancer who were 75 years or older and diagnosed from 2000-2015 were identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 18 database. We excluded patients with unknown stage and race. We performed multivariate and survival analysis using JMP pro 13. Results: 186,682 women with breast cancer of ≥ 75 yrs. were identified from the SEER. 167,802 patients met the inclusion criteria. Mean age was 81.27 years (CI 95% 81.25-81.30). Most of the patients were white (88%), and had Stage I/II (83%) breast cancer.78% of patients had estrogen receptor positive cancer, while 66% had grade 1/2 disease. The 5-year overall survival was 74% for Stage I,60% for Stage II,38% for stage III and 11% for Stage IV cancer(p Conclusion: Early breast cancer continues to be the most common presentation for patients ≥75 yrs. of age. Historical prognostic factors of breast cancer like race, hormone receptor status, stage and grade continue to impact cancer outcome among elderly patients. Only 24% of deaths among the deceased were attributed to this breast cancer highlighting the concern for over diagnosis. Nonetheless once diagnoses is established a multidisciplinary comprehensive geriatric assessment should be the cornerstone of the management. Citation Format: Muzaffar M, Vohra N, Wong J. Breast cancer in elderly women: Ageism or primum non nocere? [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-17-06.