Older women with breast cancer: denied lifesaving treatment for breast cancer solely because of their age

The results of a recent study suggest that women ages 50 and above with early stage breast cancer are significantly less likely to be given "adjuvant" chemotherapy-that is, in addition to surgery and other treatments.

Past studies have shown that older women are less likely to be treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, say Dr. Charles L. Shapiro and colleagues from Ohio State University in Columbus. But the impact a woman's age has on the decision to use or withhold adjuvant chemotherapy hasn't been clear.

The researchers theorized that older age would be a less important factor in the decision to use adjuvant chemotherapy, when taking into account all the relevant factors. These include the tumor's size, whether or not the tumor responds to antiestrogen therapy, whether the disease has spread to the lymph nodes and underlying health problems. In practice, the researchers found the opposite was true. "Controlling for all the relevant factors, older age becomes a more important factor, with older women less likely to get chemotherapy," says Shapiro. Women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers ages 50-65 were six times less likely to be offered chemotherapy than those younger than 50. Women older than 65 years were 62 times less likely to receive this treatment than those aged less than 50 years.

Source: Cancer