Objective: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a cancer that primarily affects older adults. However this patient population is frequently under-represented in clinical studies. Therefore, we studied the impact of advancing age on treatment utilisation and clinical outcomes in an extensive series of minimally selected MPM patients.
Materials and methods: Patients with MPM receiving compensation from the New South Wales (NSW) Dust Diseases Authority (2002-2009) were assessed. They were categorised by age (<70 years, 70-80 years or > 80 years) and chi-square testing was used to assess the relationship between clinical and demographic variables, age, treatment and overall survival (OS).
Results: We identified 910 patients; 41% were aged <70 years, 40% were aged 70-80 years, and 19% were aged >80 years old. Median OS decreased with increasing age: 13.5 months in <70 years, 9.5 months in 70-80 years and 7.1 months in >80 years as did chemotherapy use (66%, 35% and 8% respectively). Radical surgical intervention, adjuvant, and palliative radiotherapy were less frequently used with advanced age. A Kaplan Meier analysis revealed that there was a significant survival advantage (p < .001) for patients <70 and 70-80 years receiving chemotherapy (16.8 vs 7.0 months; 13.9 vs 5.8 months respectively), but not for patients >80 years.
Conclusion: Advancing age group of NSW patients with MPM was associated with reduced treatment utilisation and a decline in OS. Prospective studies are warranted to verify if current treatment guidelines are relevant for the older adults with MPM.
Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.