Advanced age is associated with poorer bladder cancer-specific survival in patients treated with radical cystectomy.
OBJECTIVE
Bladder cancer (BCa) is a disease of older persons, the incidence of which is expected to increase as the population ages. There is controversy, however, regarding the outcomes of radical cystectomy (RC), the gold standard treatment of high-risk BCa, in patients of advanced chronological age. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of patient age on pathological characteristics and recurrence-free and disease-specific survival following RC.


METHODS
The records of 888 consecutive patients who underwent RC for transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) were reviewed. Age at RC was analyzed both as a continuous (yr) and categorical (< or =60 yr old, n=240; 60.1-70 yr old, n=331; 70.1-80 yr old, n=266; >80 yr old, n=51) variable. Logistic regression and survival analyses were performed.


RESULTS
Higher age at RC, analyzed as a continuous or categorical variable, was associated with extravesical disease and pathological upstaging (all p<0.02). Older patients were less likely to receive postoperative chemotherapy (< or =60 yr: 32% vs. >80 yr: 14%, p=0.008). In both pre- and postoperative multivariate models, higher age at RC as a categorical variable was associated with BCa-specific survival (p<0.05). Patients >80 yr old had a significantly greater risk of disease recurrence than patients aged < or =60 yr (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Greater patient age at the time of RC for BCa is independently associated with adverse outcomes. Better understanding of factors associated with postoperative outcomes in this growing segment of the population is necessary. Prospective corroboration and further refinement of similar analyses in other large datasets is needed.
Nielsen
Matthew E
ME
The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. nielsen@jhmi.edu
Shariat
Shahrokh F
SF
Karakiewicz
Pierre I
PI
Lotan
Yair
Y
Rogers
Craig G
CG
Amiel
Gilad E
GE
Bastian
Patrick J
PJ
Vazina
Amnon
A
Gupta
Amit
A
Lerner
Seth P
SP
Sagalowsky
Arthur I
AI
Schoenberg
Mark P
MP
Palapattu
Ganesh S
GS
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015996:Survival Rate; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*