Background Many older patients don’t receive appropriate oncological treatment. Our aim was to analyse whether there are age differences in the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and preoperative radiotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted in 22 hospitals including 1157 patients with stage III colon or stage II/III rectal cancer who underwent surgery. Primary outcomes were the use of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer and preoperative radiotherapy for stage II/III rectal cancer. Generalised estimating equations were used to adjust for education, living arrangements, area deprivation, comorbidity and clinical tumour characteristics. Results In colon cancer 92% of patients aged under 65 years, 77% of those aged 65 to 80 years and 27% of those aged over 80 years received adjuvant chemotherapy (χ 2 trends < 0.001). In rectal cancer preoperative radiotherapy was used in 68% of patients aged under 65 years, 60% of those aged 65 to 80 years, and 42% of those aged over 80 years (χ 2 trends < 0.001). Adjusting by comorbidity level, tumour characteristics and socioeconomic level, the odds ratio of use of chemotherapy compared with those under age 65, was 0.3 (0.1–0.6) and 0.04 (0.02–0.09) for those aged 65 to 80 and those aged over 80, respectively; similarly, the odds ratio of use of preoperative radiotherapy was 0.9 (0.6–1.4) and 0.5 (0.3–0.8) compared with those under 65 years of age. Conclusions The probability of older patients with colorectal cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy and preoperative radiotherapy is lower than that of younger patients; many of them are not receiving the treatments recommended by clinical practice guidelines. Differences in comorbidity, tumour characteristics, curative resection, and socioeconomic factors do not explain this lower probability of treatment. Research is needed to identify the role of physical and cognitive functional status, doctors’ attitudes, and preferences of patients and their relatives, in the use of adjuvant therapies. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-019-5910-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The diagnosis or treatment of breast cancer is sometimes delayed. A lengthy delay may have a negative psychological impact on patients. Our study aim is to evaluate the sociodemographic, clinical and pathological factors associated with delay in the provision of surgical treatment for localised breast cancer, in a prospective cohort of patients. MethodThis observational, prospective, multicentre study was conducted in ten hospitals belonging to the Spanish national public health system, located in four Autonomous Communities (regions). The study included 1236 patients, diagnosed through a screening programme or found to be symptomatic, between April 2013 and May 2015. The study variables analysed included each patient's personal history, care situation, tumour history and data on the surgical intervention, pathological anatomy, hospital admission and follow-up.Treatment delay was defined as more than 30 days elapsed between biopsy and surgery. ResultsOver half of the study population experienced surgical treatment delay. This delay was greater for patients with no formal education and among widows, persons not requiring assistance for usual activities, those experiencing anxiety or depression, those who had a high BMI or an above-average number of comorbidities, those who were symptomatic, who did not receive NMR spectroscopy, who presented a histology other than infiltrating ductal carcinoma or who had poorly-differentiated carcinomas. ConclusionsCertain sociodemographic and clinical variables are associated with surgical treatment delay. This study identifies factors that influence surgical delays, highlighting the importance of preventing these factors and of raising awareness among the population at risk and among health personnel.

No abstract

Background: Few studies have examined gender differences in the clinical management of rectal cancer. We examine differences in stage at diagnosis and preoperative radiotherapy in rectal cancer patients. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in 22 hospitals in Spain including 770 patients undergoing surgery for rectal cancer. Study outcomes were disseminated disease at diagnosis and receiving preoperative radiotherapy. Age, comorbidity, referral from a screening program, diagnostic delay, distance from the anal verge, and tumor depth were considered as factors that might explain gender differences in these outcomes. Results: Women were more likely to be diagnosed with disseminated disease among those referred from screening (odds ratio, confidence interval 95% (OR, CI = 7.2, 0.9-55.8) and among those with a diagnostic delay greater than 3 months (OR, CI = 5.1, 1.2-21.6). Women were less likely to receive preoperative radiotherapy if they were younger than 65 years of age (OR, CI = 0.6, 0.3-1.0) and if their tumors were cT3 or cT4 (OR, CI = 0.5, 0.4-0.7). Conclusions: The gender-specific sensitivity of rectal cancer screening tests, gender differences in referrals and clinical reasons for not prescribing preoperative radiotherapy in women should be further examined. If these gender differences are not clinically justifiable, their elimination might enhance survival.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract