Health profiles of older women cancer survivors

Abstract

Purpose: Cancer survivors diagnosed at 65 years or older represent an understudied population in cancer survivorship research. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive analysis was to look at the health profiles and interpersonal relationships of older women survivors of cancer.

Patients and methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study of older women cancer survivors who represented a subset of respondents from a larger mailed study that surveyed long-term cancer survivors treated at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Focusing on breast cancer, the most common antecedent diagnosis, we compared survivors of breast cancer with age-matched survivors of other cancer types.

Results: We identified 213 survivors of breast cancer and compared them with 314 age-matched female survivors of other cancers as well as age-matched female representatives of the general population. Few distinctions were found between breast cancer survivors and survivors of other cancers in terms of health effects and both groups reported very good interpersonal relationships.

Conclusion: Breast cancer survivors report generally similar long-term outcomes with age-matched survivors of other cancers.

Implications for cancer survivors: Information derived from breast cancer survivor studies may be broadly applicable to survivors of other cancers, at least in the older populations.