A population-based study of treatment patterns, 10-year recurrence and breast cancer-specific mortality in a cohort of elderly patients with breast cancer

Abstract Background We compared disease characteristics, therapies offered and received, and outcomes between older (>75 years) and younger (60–75 years) women with breast cancer (BC) from a regional database in Ontario, Canada. Methods BC surgical cases from 12 hospitals were included. Younger (60–75 years) and older (>75 years) groups were compared. Cox proportional hazards regression with competing risk analyses assessed the relationship between predictor variables, 10-year recurrence and BC-specific mortality. Results Our sample comprised 774 women; 33.5% were older. Older women had larger tumours, were more likely to have positive nodes, had more comorbidities, were more likely to undergo mastectomy, had less nodal surgery, were less likely to receive adjuvant therapies, and experienced more recurrences and BC-specific deaths (p  Conclusion Older BC patients (>75 years) received less treatment and experienced increased recurrence and BC-specific mortality.