[Clinical characters of aged nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients].
OBJECTIVE
The influence of age on treatment outcome and survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients has seldom been reported. This study was to explore the clinical characters of aged NPC patients.


METHODS
A total of 754 patients with histopathologically proven NPC from Jan. 1, 2000 to May 1, 2002 were divided to adult group (<60 years old, 647 patients) and aged group (> or =60 years old, 107 patients). The difference of disease characters, treatment patterns, and other complications between these two groups were analyzed. The influence of age on survival was analyzed with COX regression model.


RESULTS
There was no difference between the two groups in disease characters, radiation dose, and interval time. However, the proportion of the patients received chemotherapy was significantly larger in adult group than in aged group (254/647 vs. 29/107, P=0.016), while the occurrence of complications was more frequent in aged group than in adult group (40/107 vs. 19/647, P<0.001). The 3-year tumor-specific survival rate was significantly lower in aged group than in adult group (72.90% vs. 82.95%, P=0.010). COX multivariable analysis showed that age and '92 Fuzhou N stage were independent prognostic factors, and the odds ratio (OR) of age was 1.604 (95% CI: 0.929-2.768) (P=0.026).


CONCLUSIONS
Aged NPC patients have worse 3-year survival than adult patients, which may be related to the high risk of chemotherapy and less possibility to tolerate enough doses and cycles. But age itself is still a poor prognostic factor when excluding the influence of chemotherapy.
Qi
Shu-Nan
SN
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, P. R. China.
Xie
Fang-Yun
FY
Lu
Tai-Xiang
TX
Gao
Jian-Ming
JM
Liu
Meng-Zong
MZ
Zou
Guo-Rong
GR
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000528:radiation effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
D001761:Bleomycin; D002945:Cisplatin