Short- and Long-Term Survival among Elderly Colorectal Cancer Patients in Finland, 2006–2015: A Nationwide Population-Based Registry Study

Abstract

This population-based registry study aimed to report 30-day and one-year postoperative survival, five-year overall survival (OS), and disease-specific survival (DSS) among elderly (≥75 years old) colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. All new colorectal cancer cases from 2006–2015 were included and followed until death or the end of follow-up (end of 2016). Among 27,088 CRC patients, 11,306 patients were ≥75 years old. Among patients ≥ 75 years, 36.8% (n = 4160) had right-sided colon cancer, 21.9% (n = 2478) left-sided colon cancer, and 32.3% (n = 3650) rectal cancer. In this study population, 932 patients were aged ≥ 90. The 30-day postoperative OS for patients aged 75–79 was 96.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 95.3–96.9) falling to 93.2% (95% CI 92.0–94.4) for patients aged 80–84. The one-year postoperative OS among patients aged 75–79 was 86.3% (95% CI 84.7–87.9) compared with 80.5% (95% CI 78.7–82.3) among patients aged 80–84. Five-year OS among patients aged 75–79 was 47.6% (95% CI 46.0–49.2) and 36.6% (95% CI 34.8–38.4) among patients aged 80–84, compared with 61.7% (95% CI 60.9–62.5) among younger patients (<75 years old). Survival among elderly CRC patients (≥75 years old) was in general fairly good when compared with younger patients, especially among patients aged 75–79 and 80–84 with localized or locally advanced disease.

Keywords

• colorectal cancer
• right-sided colon cancer
• left-sided colon cancer
• rectal cancer
• elderly
• short-term survival