Influence of Age on Treatment and Prognosis in Ovarian Cancer Patients
<b>Background</b>: Ovarian cancer, particularly in advanced stages, requires cytoreductive surgery followed by chemotherapy. A significant proportion of patients are elderly, yet older women are often treated with non-standard regimens despite a lack of consistent evidence linking age to prognosis. The aim of this study is to assess age-specific differences in treatment and survival outcomes for ovarian cancer in women aged 70 years or older. <b>Methods</b>: This retrospective study included ovarian cancer patients treated at the Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, between 2016 and 2022. Patients were stratified into two groups: <70 and ≥70 years. Clinical and pathological data were analyzed, and hazard ratios (HR) for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Multivariate analysis was performed to compare outcomes. <b>Results</b>: A total of 110 patients were included (73 <70 years, 37 ≥70 years). Among the older group, 80.5% were diagnosed at advanced stages (III-IV), compared to 63% in the younger group (<i>p</i> = 0.012). Patients aged ≥70 were more likely to undergo interval surgery (<i>p</i> = 0.053) and receive non-standard treatment (<i>p</i> = 0.023). Complete cytoreduction was achieved in 95.8% of younger patients versus 81.3% of older patients (<i>p</i> = 0.024). Age ≥70 did not significantly impact DFS (<i>p</i> = 0.091), but OS was significantly worse in the older group (44.4% vs. 67.2%, <i>p</i> = 0.014). <b>Conclusions</b>: Older women (≥70 years) with ovarian cancer are more likely to be diagnosed at advanced stages, receive non-standard treatment, and achieve suboptimal cytoreduction compared to younger patients. While DFS was similar across age groups, older age was associated with worse OS, highlighting the need for age-tailored treatment strategies.
Authors
- Giovanna Pinto
- Rosa Ana Sabaté-Garcia
- Marta Alvarez
- Gemma Mancebo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5859-7936)
- Berta Fabregó (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9273-1692)
- Josep‐Maria Solé‐Sedeño (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0789-6896)
- Ester Miralpeix (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1708-6448)
- Adrián Vizoso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9020-7512)
Institutions
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- Hospital Del Mar (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cancers
- Published
- 2025-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17091397
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Ovarian cancer diagnosis and treatment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.09