Octogenarians may benefit from stage-specific small cell lung cancer treatment

Our study investigates treatment profiles in octogenarian patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and assesses each treatment's role in a stage-specific manner.

Patient data from individuals with SCLC aged 80 years and older between 1988 and 2015 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) database were extracted. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) between patients with no treatment and different treatment groups were compared by the Kaplan-Meier method, with stratifications by stage. Cox Proportional Hazard model further identified independent prognostic factors.

A total of 7,290 patients were included in this study. Notably, 3,358 (46.1%) patients did not receive active treatment. Compared with the no active treatment group, the CSS of patients who received treatment was significantly improved (median 6 vs. 0 months, P<0.001) and further validated in stage subgroups. Chemotherapy combined with local therapy was associated with the best CSS in regional and distant disease stages, with the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) being 0.30 (0.26-0.34) and 0.27 (0.25-0.30), respectively. Local therapy only appeared to confer better oncological outcomes (HR =0.33; 95% CI: 0.25-0.42) than chemotherapy only (HR =0.37; 95% CI: 0.29-0.47) in the localized disease stage.

Although nearly half of octogenarians with SCLC did not receive active treatment in the real clinical setting, these patients may benefit from treatment. Chemotherapy combined with local therapy may provide the best treatment choice in octogenarians with advanced SCLC, while local therapy appears to play a more critical role in treating those with early-stage disease.