Disparities in care for elderly women with endometrial cancer adversely effects survival

Elderly women with endometrial cancer are at increased risk of local recurrence and cancer-specific death compared to younger women. We sought to investigate adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) practice patterns and effects on survival in elderly women with endometrial cancer.

Women from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) with FIGO IA grade 3 to FIGO IVA endometrial cancer diagnosed from 2004-2013 were included. Chi square analysis was used to compare the elderly (80+) and non-elderly women (18-79) and women who received RT and those that did not. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine predictors of receipt of oncologic surgery and adjuvant RT. Univariate and multivariate Cox survival analyses were performed to examine the effect of radiotherapy on survival. Propensity score matching and shared frailty analysis were done in the elderly cohort.

We identified 48,871 women for analysis. Rates of oncologic surgery were higher in the women 80+ compared with rates of adjuvant RT (95% versus 34%). Rates of RT receipt were higher in non-elderly women (48% versus 34%, p<0.001). Age over 80 was a negative predictive factor (OR 0.62, p<0.001) for receipt of adjuvant RT and oncologic surgery (OR 0.81, p=0.03). Adjuvant RT was associated with a decreased risk of death in elderly (HR 0.79, p<0.001) and non-elderly women (HR 0.77, p<0.001).

Endometrial cancer patients over age 80 have similar rates of oncologic surgery as younger women but are significantly less likely to receive adjuvant RT, and this negatively impacts their survival.