Attitudes to radical gynecological oncology surgery in the elderly: a pilot study

Abstract

Does age-related inequality of cancer care reflect patient preference or physician prejudice? We hypothesize no difference between elderly and younger patients' desire for optimal surgery and disease cure, and psychological adaptation to cancer. A newly developed questionnaire to assess attitudes to radical gynecological surgery in the elderly (ARGOSE) and a battery of established instruments were administered to 54 gynecological cancer patients (32 aged 65 + years; and 22 aged < 65 years) by structured interview. Disease diagnosis differed between cohorts (P = 0.007), but treatment modalities were similar (P = 0.46). There was no difference between cohorts in desire for optimal surgery and disease cure. Trends suggest the young consider a patient's age is less important than do the elderly, but the elderly may oppose age-related economic rationing of treatment more than the young. Furthermore, elderly individuals tend to perceive their seniors too elderly for treatment, but not themselves. The elderly believe more strongly that doctors should make management decisions. Perceptions of change in body image after cancer treatment did not differ between cohorts. The influence of age in determining attitudes is complex. A larger study with increased power is indicated to examine trends revealed in this pilot study.

Elderly patients with stage III or IV ovarian cancer: should they receive standard care?

“…Mortality from ovarian cancer increases with patients’ age (3) , possibly due to older patients being less likely to receive optimal treatment according to current guidelines (10) and to participate in clinical trials, and being more likely to present at later stages (3,16) . In contrast, elderly patients themselves express a strong wish to receive radical, curative treatment (17,18) , and recently, studies have found equivalent outcomes irrespective of the patient’s age (19) .…”

Validação da Body Appreciation Scale (BAS), Life Satisfaction Index for the Third Age (LSITA) e do Aging Perception Questionnaire (APQ) para a língua portuguesa no Brasil

“…Entretanto a maior parte dos trabalhos encontrados sobre Imagem corporal e envelhecimento aborda a relação da imagem corporal a doenças crônicas, principalmente câncer, diabetes, hipertensão, obesidade, Parkinson, entre outras doenças e incapacidades (NEISES et al, 1996;LANTZ, BUCHALTER, McBEE, 1997;SANDYK, 1998;NORDIN et al, 2000;MANDELBLATT et al, 2000;EBBESKONG, EKMAN, 2001;HAES et al, 2003, LIEBERMAN, PROBART, SCHOENBERG, 2003TUNG, TARGONSKI, 2005;BARBER et al, 2007;KORNBLITH, POWELL, REGAN et al, 2007;GRIMM, NOVOTNY, HEBERLING et al, 2007;BROWALL et al, 2008;DELL'AQUILA et al, 2009) e visam analisar o impacto de doenças, dor crônica e incapacidade no desenvolvimento da imagem corporal.…”