TREATMENT TOLERANCE OF ELDERLY CANCER-PATIENTS ENTERED ONTO PHASE-II CLINICAL-TRIALS - AN ILLINOIS-CANCER-CENTER STUDY

Purpose: Past research that has compared cancer treatment tolerance be tween elderly and nonelderly cancer patients has been contradictory. S ome investigators concluded that there is no difference between the gr oups, while others demonstrated elderly patients experienced less tole rance to treatment. As a result, some physicians discriminate against elderly cancer patients by not entering them onto clinical trials out of a belief that they will not tolerate the therapy. Methods: An analy sis was performed using the Illinois Cancer Center (ICC) data base, wh ich contains treatment information for all patients registered onto ph ase II trials. A maximum of 672 cases was available for evaluation of 11 treatment-related variables. Results: The results demonstrated no s ignificant differences between elderly and nonelderly patients for the following seven treatment-related variables: performance status (PS), number of dose reductions, number of treatment interruptions, total d ays of delay, best response, reason off-study, and number of grade 3 o r greater toxicities. Minor differences were detected for number of co urses and number of dose escalations. Conclusion: Based on these resul ts, elderly patients shoud not be denied access to cancer clinical tri als relative to age alone.