Tumor Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of Older Women with Breast Cancer in a Developing Country

Background Less than 10% of newly diagnosed breast cancer in our region are diagnosed in women 70 years or older. Treatment plans of such patients is less clear and have poor outcomes. In this paper, we describe clinical presentation, tumor characteristics and treatment outcomes in such patients.Patients and methods Consecutive patients aged 65 years or older with pathologically-confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer were included. Medical records and hospital databases were searched for patients’ characteristics and treatment outcomes.Results A total of 553 patients, median age 70 (range: 65-91) years, were included. On presentation, 114 (20.6%) patients had metastatic disease and was mostly visceral (81; 71.1%). Patients with non-metastatic disease had poor pathological features including node-positive in 244 (55.6%), GIII in 170 (38.7%) and lymphovascular invasion in 173 (39.4%). Patients were treated less aggressively; 144 (34.0%) patients with early-stage disease and 98 (86.0%) with metastatic disease never had chemotherapy. After a median follow up of 45 months, 5-year overall survival for the whole group was 67.6%. Survival was better for patients with non-metastatic disease (78.8% vs. 25.4%, P<0.0001) and for those with node-negative compared to node-positive disease; 85.4% vs. 74.1%, P=0.0024. On Cox regression, only positive lymph nodes were associated with poor outcome in patients with non-metastatic disease (Hazard Ratio [HR], 1.75; 95% CI: 1.006-3.034, P=0.0476).Conclusions Older Jordanian women with breast cancer present with more aggressive features and advanced-stage disease that reflect poorly on treatment outcomes. Because of comorbidities and poor performance status, some patients were not aggressively treated.

After a median follow up of 45 months, 5-year overall survival for the whole group was 67.6%. Survival was better for patients with non-metastatic disease (78.8% vs. 25

Background
Accounting for almost 40% of all cancer cases, breast cancer is the most common cancer 3 in Jordan and its incidence increases with age. 1 Less than 10% of newly diagnosed breast cancer in the region, compared to 30% in western societies, are diagnosed in women 70 years or older. 2 Such group of patients remains underrepresented in clinical trials 3 , their treatment plan is less clear and have poor outcomes. 4,5 Pathological features and clinical presentation among older patients with breast cancer are not the same as younger ones. With aging, the percentage of HER-2 positive disease decreases while ER and PR-positivity increases. 6 Such features, though implicate a better prognosis, are not reflected in real clinical outcomes.
Many previously published studies have shown that older patients are more likely to receive non-standardized care and usually depends more on physician's preference. [7][8][9][10][11] Compliance to planned treatment is always an issue with increasing age. 12 The poor outcome observed among older patients can also be attributed to comorbidities and its associated medications. Such comorbidities have the potential to affect the mortality of such older women regardless of their breast cancer or its treatment. 13 Women with early-stage breast cancer and comorbid conditions, are likely to die from causes other than breast cancer. In one study, using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results After a median follow up of 45 (range: 0.23-154) months, 5-year overall survival for the whole group was 67.6% while the median overall survival was 104.2 months. Survival was significantly better for patients with non-metastatic disease with 5-year OS of 78.8% compared to 25.4% for patients with metastatic disease; P<0.0001 (Figure-2).
Among the patients with non-metastatic disease, survival was significantly better for patients with node-negative compared to those with node-positive disease; 5-year OS was 85.4% and 74.1%, respectively, p= 0.0024 (Figure-3a). Survival advantage was also noted among patients with no lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and those with low-grade disease as illustrated in Figure-

Discussion
Jordan is a middle-income country with an estimated total population of 10 million, the majority of them are the younger generation, and only 3.7% are 65 years or older. 15 However, given the changing demographics and health care, this group is expanding rapidly.
Age is an important risk factor for breast cancer. However, data on whether patients' age at diagnosis is also related to breast cancer treatment outcomes and survival in our region is lacking. Life expectancy for Jordanian females is significantly lower compared to western societies. 16 Our data presented in this paper shows that a significant proportion of our patients, especially those with metastatic disease, were not treated aggressively with chemotherapy or surgery. Less than two-thirds of those with non-metastatic disease and only 14% of those with the metastatic disease received chemotherapy. Similarly, surgical interventions were less aggressive, too. Less than a third had BCS while sentinel LN biopsy was performed on 38.0% and axillary dissection was performed less often than younger patients. Though breast reconstructive surgery is not commonly performed in our region, less than 5% of our older patients included in this study had it.
Avoidance of both surgery and chemotherapy in this age group was also reported in western literature. 17 In one study, hormonal therapy uses as the sole therapy for breast cancer at UK hospitals increased from 2.8% in patients aged 65-69 years to 40.3% among patients aged 70 years or older. 18 Furthermore, it has been shown in previous studies that older women are less likely to receive adjuvant radiotherapy. [19][20][21] Variation in the rate of surgery for breast cancer persists even in the same hospital. In one study that utilized data on over 17000 women aged 70 years or more with ER-positive operable breast cancer from two UK regional cancer registries demonstrated considerable variation in rates of surgery. Despite adjusting for case-mix, this variation persisted at the hospital level (22). Utilizing the Charlson's Index of co-morbidity, Giordano and colleagues reported that among women aged 75 years or older treated for breast cancer with clinical stage I-IIIa, the odds of having surgery in accordance with the guidelines were 0.32 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20 to 0.51) times lower than those of 55-64-year-olds. 23 Because treatment decisions for such older patients are based mostly on age rather than health status or potential benefit, objective tools that assess the fitness and functional status of older patients for the planned cancer treatment is highly needed. 24,25 A study from Sweden that included 4,453 women diagnosed with breast cancer in Malmö 8 University Hospital between 1961 and 1991 looked at the effect of age on breast cancerspecific mortality. When adjusted for potential confounders, including stage at diagnosis, age was a significant factor only for patients aged 80 years or more. 26 Based on women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2008 and 2014, the 5-year OS rate, published by the American Cancer Society, based on SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results)-database, for patients with stage IV disease is 27%. 27 This number had increased from 22% in 2012. 28 The SEER database, however, does not group cancers by AJCC TNM stages, instead, it groups cancers into localized, regional, and distant stages. The 5-year OS rates for patients with regional disease is 85%. Our survival rates are a little lower. However, the two populations are not comparable. Several of the known poor prognostic pathological features, like positive axillary lymph nodes and highgrade tumors are more prevalent in our patient population compared to what was reported in western literature. The prevalence of comorbidities among our population, in general, is high enough to explain our lower life expectancy and this obviously affect the aggressiveness of anticancer therapy for this population and may be another factor to explain this difference in OS.
Our study is not without limitations. This is a retrospective study with limited data on potentially important factors like performance status, detailed comorbidities, and social support. Though our study is a single-institution one, our center treats over two-thirds of all breast cancer patients in the country.

Conclusions
Older women with breast cancer in developing countries present with more aggressive features and advanced-stage disease that reflect poorly on treatment outcomes. Because of comorbidities and poor performance status, some patients are not aggressively treated.
Future regional studies should focus on identifying tumor and patient-related characteristics and link it to objective measures that can be used to help target anticancer therapy for older patients most likely to benefit. Awareness about the need to treat "older patients" more aggressively is growing and plans to create geriatric oncology service are ongoing.