Cox multivariate regression analysis on prognosis of elderly patients with breast cancer

Objective To analyze the prognostic factors in elderly patients with breast cancer.Methods The clinicopathological features,recurrence,metastasis and survival status of 267 elderly patients with breast cancer and 1 910 non-elderly breast cancer patients were retrospectively analyzed with Cox multivariate regression method.Results There were no differences in 5-year disease-free survival(DFS) and overall survival(OS) rates between elderly breast cancer patients and non-elderly patients(P=0.185,P=0.206).Compared to non-elderly patients,12.7% elderly patients were in clinical stage Ⅲ,4.1% had tumor size 5 cm,15.0% had more than 4 positive lymph nodes,7.5% had histological grade Ⅲ,60.3% were with positive Luminal A,70.4% received radical mastectomy,50.6% received postoperative chemotherapy and 21.0% received postoperative radiotherapy.Statistically significant differences were observed in all the above aspects(all P0.05).Univariate analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that molecular subtypes,tumor size,lymph node state,histological grade and tumor type were prognostic factors for elderly patients with breast cancer.Postoperative chemotherapy and hormone therapy improved DFS and OS of patients,while adjuvant radiation didn′t.Conclusions Elderly patients with breast cancer have special clinical characteristics and independent prognostic factors.Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and endocrine therapy may improve their survival.