Prognostic factors in 165 elderly colorectal cancer patients

To analyse the prognostic factors in 165 colorectal patients aged > or =70.

One hundred and sixty-five elderly patients with colorectal cancer diagnosed by histology were entered into the retrospective study between 1994 and 2001. Patients were given optimal operation alone, chemotherapy after operation, or chemotherapy alone according to tumor stage, histology, physical strength, and co-morbid problems. Survival rate was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, and compared with meaningful variances by Log-rank method. Prognostic factors were analyzed by Cox regression.

The 1,2,3,4,5 year survival rate (all-cause mortality) was 87.76 %, 65.96%, 52.05%, 42.77 %, 40.51%, respectively. The mean survival time was 41.89+/-2.33 months (95% CI: 37.33-46.45 months), and the median survival time was 37 months. Univariate analysis showed that factors such as age, nodal metastasis, treatment method, Duke's stage, gross findings, kind of histology, and degree of differentiation had influences on the survival rate. Multivariate analysis showed that factors such as treatment method, Duke's stage, kind of histology and degree of differentiation were independent prognostic factors.

This study suggests that the prognosis of elderly colorectal cancer patients is influenced by several factors. Most of elderly patients can endure surgery and/or chemotherapy, and have a long-time survival and good quality of life.