Breast Cancer Subtypes in Patients Aged 70 Years and Older

ABSTRACT

Recurrence and survival pattern in breast cancer (bc) patients (pts) ≥ 70 years subcategorized according to subtype and age are still an area of uncertainty. Tumor characteristics, patient demographics, therapies applied, and recurrence pattern were compared between luminal A (LA), luminal B (LB), Her2/neu overexpressing (Her+) and triple-negative (TN) bc subtypes and the age subcategories 70–74, 75–79, ≥80 years. Based on univariate Cox-regression-analyses distant-disease-free-survival (DDFS) differed significantly for bc subtypes (p = 0.0002), notably for Her+ vs. LA (p = 0.0014), TN vs. LA (p < 0.001), and TN vs. LB (p = 0.0086). Not age, but Her+ and TN represented prognostic factors for DDFS.

KEYWORDS:

• Elderly patients
• Age categories
• DDFS
• LRFS
• adjuvant therapies
• breast cancer subtypes

Acknowledgments

This investigation was supported by Applied Cancer Research—Institution for Translational Research Vienna (ACR-ITR VIEnna) and was partly funded by ratiopharm and Pfizer Corporation Austria.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.