Er. Greimel et al., PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTCOMES IN CANCER-PATIENTS - A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT AGE-GROUPS, British Journal of Cancer, 76(2), 1997, pp. 251-255
In a cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship between a
ge, physical health, social and economic resources, functional status,
activities of daily living (ADL) and disease-related variables of 227
patients with cancer. Using multidimensional outcome measures we exam
ined age differences in three age groups (< 45, 46-65, > 65 years) and
identified predictors of performing ADL. The results indicated that o
lder patients have outcomes similar to those of younger patients. Ther
e were no significant differences in quality of life, performance stat
us and physical health among the three age groups, The only areas wher
e age-related differences were found were comorbidity and cancer-relat
ed impairments. Patients aged 45-65 years and patients 65 years and ol
der reported a higher level of co-morbidity and more cancer-related im
pairments than those aged 45 and younger. Although older patients had
higher co-morbidity, they showed similar Karnofsky Performance Status
(KPS) scores to those of their younger counterparts. The regression an
alysis revealed social resources, self-reported health, performance st
atus and complexity of care as significant predictors of patients' ADL
, but not age, co-morbidity or severity of treatment. The findings sup
port the conclusion that differences in performing ADL between younger
and older patients with cancer are minimal and tend to be due to co-m
orbidity. Thus, treatment should be decided by a patient's physical he
alth rather than by age.