title: Breast cancer in Chinese elderly women: pathological and clinical characteristics and factors influencing treatment patterns.
abstract: The aims of this study are to describe tumor characteristics and treatment patterns of elder breast cancer patients and to determine the factors influencing local and systemic treatments. This retrospective cohort included 866 patients (>or=60 years) referred for surgery between January 2002 and December 2006. The patients were divided into four groups according to age. Elderly women had larger tumors at diagnosis with more mucinous carcinomas, more estrogen/progesterone-positive, lower Ki-67 labeling indices and less c-erbB2 positive tumors. Comorbidities were more often recorded for older patients. They were more likely to undergo simple mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery, less likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, compared with their younger counterparts. Multinomial and binary logistic regression showed that age was independently associated with local and systemic treatments. Our data suggest that the tumors of elderly patients are biologically more favorable, and elderly women appear to receive less aggressive treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Cancer Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, PR China.
authors.forename: Chuan-Dong
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiu-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Guang-Yu
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gen-Hong
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: Jiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jin-Song
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Wen-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jia-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhi-Min
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Kun-Wei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhen-Zhou
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors