Effect of age as a continuous variable in early-stage endometrial carcinoma: a multi-institutional analysis in China

To explore the effect of age at diagnosis as a continuous variable on survival and treatment choice of patients with early-stage endometrial carcinoma (EC).

We retrospectively analyzed data from patients with early-stage EC from January 1999 to December 2015 in multiple institutions in China. All patients received primary hysterectomy/bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy for EC confirmed pathology of stage I and II disease (FIGO 2009 staging). All patients were divided into low-risk, intermediate-risk, high-intermediate-risk and high-risk groups according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk classification.

The median follow-up time was 57months, and the 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) was 95.7%. Age as a continuous variable was an independent prognostic factor for CSS. With an increase in age, the hazard ratio (HR) for CSS increases gradually. Other independent prognostic factors included myometrial invasion (MI), grade, and chemotherapy. In the stratified analysis of age, the HRs of age on CSS in patients >70y were 5.516, 5.015, 4.469, 4.618, 5.334, and 5.821 after adjusting for cancer characteristics, local treatment, chemotherapy and treatment-related late toxicity. In patients 66-70-year-old, the HRs were 2.509, 2.074, 2.101, 2.091, 2.157 and 1.621 after adjusting for the above covariates. In patients ≤65y, there was no significant difference in the HR of age on CSS after adjustment.

Age as a continuous variable is an independent prognostic factor and 65 year-old may be the best cut-off point for CSS in patients with early-stage EC in the Asian population. Quality of life should be given greater weight in the choice of therapeutic schedule for those patients >70 y.