Patterns of chemotherapy and survival in elderly patients with advanced bladder cancer: A large Medicare database study.

Abstract

4551 Background: The frequency of employment of cisplatin-based chemotherapy in elderly patients (≥66 years) presenting with advanced (unresectable or metastatic) bladder cancer is unclear. We examined the use of and overall survival (OS) with chemotherapy regimens employed in elderly patients with newly diagnosed advanced bladder cancer (ABC). Methods: SEER-Medicare linked data were used to identify incident ABC patients presenting with the following stages of bladder cancer: T4bN0M0; Any TN1–N3M0; Any T, Any N, M1 between 2004 and 2007, with claims data until 2009. Outpatient and inpatient Medicare claims data were queried for receipt and type of chemotherapy used. The descriptive analyses were performed to examine associations between chemotherapy regimen, clinical characteristics and OS. Results: A total of 1,031 patients with ABC met inclusion criteria. The median age was 74 years, 69.8% were men. 4.6% (n=47) were T4bN0M0, 55.3% (n=570) were anyT,N1-3M0 and 40.1% (n=414) were any T, any N, M1. Overall, 20.5% (n=211) received cisplatin, 26.1% (n=269) received carboplatin, 5% (n=52) received no platinum and 48.4% (n=499) received no chemotherapy. There were no differences in regimen according to gender, race, stage and age. The median OS for cisplatin, carboplatin, no platinum and no chemotherapy groups were 1.67, 1.41, 1.5 and 1.41 years, respectively (F=5.36, p<0.001). Patients with Any TN1–N3M0; Any T, Any N, M1 receiving cisplatin had better OS compared to carboplatin. T4bN0M0 patients receiving carboplatin exhibited better OS relative to those receiving cisplatin, but this finding is limited by the small number of patients. Conclusions: Among patients presenting with ABC in the Medicare database aged ≥66 years, only 20.5% received cisplatin and 48.4% received no chemotherapy. Those with distant and nodal metastasis displayed better OS with cisplatin. Further analysis will control for baseline prognostic factors and comorbidities. Drug development in the ABC population, especially the elderly, should focus on chemotherapy-ineligible and cisplatin-ineligible patients.