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Care Disparities in Older Patients with Lung Ca
Cancer; ePub 2018 Jan 8; Cassidy, Zhang, et al
~6 in every 10 octogenarians and nonagenarians with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) did not receive cancer-directed care in a recent analysis involving >12,600 individuals. Participants—from the National Cancer Data Base—were aged ≥80 years and diagnosed with stage III NSCLC at a median age of 83. Investigators looked at treatment patterns. Among the results:
- 48% had stage IIIA and 52% stage IIIB disease.
- 63% of patients received no therapy.
- Blacks were 23% more likely to receive no therapy.
- Patients living in lower educated areas were 20% more likely to receive no therapy.
- Those treated at an academic center were more likely to receive cancer-directed therapy.
- Patients who received no treatment or radiation alone experienced worse overall survival than those treated with concurrent chemoradiation.
Citation:
Cassidy R, Zhang X, Switchenko J, et al. Health care disparities among octogenarians and nonagenarians with stage III lung cancer. [Published online ahead of print January 8, 2018]. Cancer. doi:10.1002/cncr.31077.