RESUMEN
Background Elderly patients (70 years or older) with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) do benefit from systemic chemotherapy as shown in many studies. We prospectively collected multicentric data on therapeutic decisions from patients 70 years or older to reflect the reality in the German health care system. Material and Methods Patients 70 years or older with NSCLC Stage IIIB or IV were eligible. No more than 20 consecutive patients from each center were included. Comorbidities, weighted by the Charlson-comorbidity-index, and survival data were collected. Results 253 patients were documented. Median age was 75.5 years (range 70 to 92) and 75â% were male. 2â% had no comorbidities, 5â% one, 15â% two, 24â% three and 55â% more than three. 237 patients (94â%) received systemic chemotherapy: 172 (73â%) as a combination and 58 (24â%) as monotherapy. Data from seven patients regarding therapy are missing. Combination regimens were in 66â% carboplatin- and in 30â% cisplatin-based. The most frequently given monotherapy was vinorelbin in 50â% of cases. In the group of the patients older than 80 years (nâ=â38), 53â% received mono therapy, 29â% a carboplatin-based regimen and 16â% no chemotherapy. Cisplatin was not administered in this age group.âMedian overall survival (OS) was 16.9 months. Patients with a Charlson-score ≤â6 had 17.9 months, those >â6 12.0 months. With combination chemotherapy median OS was 23.5 months. Patients >â80 years had a median OS of 5.7 months. Conclusion A high percentage of patients older than 70 years received systemic therapy. Survival depended more on comorbidities than on age.