Chemotherapy compliance in elderly patients with solid tumors: a real-world clinical practice data

Abstract

Introduction. Malignant tumors in elderly people are more than ten times more prevalent than in the younger population. The data on the compliance with chemotherapy in older cancer patients managed outside of clinical trials is scarce. Material and methods. We retrospectively assessed 181 consecutive cancer patients aged 65 years or more who received systemic chemotherapy. The study aimed to examine chemotherapy compliance in a large series of elderly patients managed in routine clinical practice. We also investigated the ability to complete chemotherapy in relation to selected factors, such as tumor type, treatment setting and line, type of chemotherapy, presence of comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), an expected glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin level (Hb), a neutrophil- to-lymphocyte ratio, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (PS). Results. Thirty-three percent of patients did not complete an initially pre-defined chemotherapy plan. The main reasons were disease progression (20%) and unacceptable toxicity (10%). Independent factors related to premature treatment termination included a lower BMI, a lower Hb level, lower PS, and palliative (compared to currative) setting. Conclusions. In conclusion, premature chemotherapy termination not related to disease progression is relatively rare in elderly patients and may be predicted with routinely used clinical parameters.