A population-based study on variations in the use of adjuvant systemic therapy on postmenopausal patients with early...

To assess adherence to treatment recommendations regarding adjuvant systemic therapy of postmenopausal patients with early stage breast cancer.

A population-based cohort of women from Eastern Thuringia/Germany with first diagnosis of breast cancer in 1995-2000 was studied. The use of adjuvant therapy was assessed separately for patients with positive and negative nodal status fitting polytomous logistic regression models.

Among 396 women with positive lymph nodes and 832 with negative lymph nodes, 92.9% and 87.3% received an adjuvant systemic treatment, respectively. Age, comorbidity, hormone receptor status, histological grading, and additionally, in nodal positives, the number of involved lymph nodes, were associated with treatment patterns. Age had the strongest impact on treatment decision. Older women more often received hormone- or no adjuvant therapy. However, 26.3% of the women with lymph node involvement and positive hormone receptor status received no hormone therapy, whereas 35.7% of women with negative hormone receptor status received hormone therapy.

The number of patients with adjuvant systemic therapy is high in women with positive and those with negative lymph nodes, reflecting adherence to the recommendations. Better outcome could be expected if hormone therapy was used adequately in receptor positives. Further follow-up is required to monitor the outcome and changes in adherence to treatment recommendations.