AGING AND THERAPEUTIC DELAY IN COLORECTAL CANCER: A FRENCH POPULATION-BASED STUDY

Background/Objectives: Data on the time between colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment in real-life practice for elderly patients are scarce. We measured times from diagnosis to first-course therapy in elderly patients with colon and rectal cancers. Design: The study was carried out on the population-based Burgundy Digestive Cancer Registry (France). Setting: Therapeutic delays were described by medians and interquartile ranges and compared by the Kruskal-Wallis rank test. Factors associated with changes in therapeutic delay were identified using a multivariate Cox model. Participants: The analysis was carried out on 2,884 patients aged 60 years and over with colorectal adenocarcinoma diagnosed between 2005 and 2011. Measurements and Results: The median therapeutic delay for colon cancer was 25 days in patients aged 60 to 69 years and 24 days for those aged 70-79 years. The delay fell significantly to 19 days in patients aged 80 and over (p<0.001). The median therapeutic delay for rectal cancer did not vary according to age group (respectively 39, 38 and 33 days). For colon cancer, a Charlson comorbidity score=0, in all age groups, and private care for patients under 80 years, significantly shortened the therapeutic delay. It was significantly longer during the period [2008-2011] only in patients under 80 (HR: 0.89 [0.81 - 0.99] p=0.037). For rectal cancer, only advanced stage (HR advanced vs II: 1.39 [1.04-1.86], p=0.025) shortened the therapeutic delay in patients under 80, while private care shortened therapeutic delay only in patients over 80 (HR private vs public: 1.66 [1.00-2.74], p=0.049). Conclusion: This study highlights that differences in therapeutic delay for the elderly increased over time for colon and rectal cancer. The therapeutic delay did not differ much between the 60-69 and the 70-79 years age groups, whereas it was shorter for patients aged 80 and over.