Variations in compliance with different endocrine therapies in ER-positive breast cancer in elderly females in a rural population.
e12052 Background: Compliance is a serious issue for breast cancer patients on endocrine therapy. There are various factors that may alter compliance across different age groups e.g. side effects, cognitive impairment, socioeconomic status etc. Noncompliance to therapy leads to early discontinuation and poor longterm outcome. The purpose of this study was to examine compliance rates with endocrine therapy i.e. aromatase inhibitors & tamoxifen in different age groups of geriatric breast cancer patients and determine its tolerability and impact on survival. Methods: An institutional database of a total of 269 patients with histologically confirmed invasive or in-situ breast cancer with age 65 years or older at the time of diagnosis was reviewed in an IRB approved fashion. Adjuvant endocrine therapy included tamoxifen, letrozole, anstrozole and fulvestrant. Patients were further subdivided into age groups. Compliance was measured as an early termination of therapy. Fisher’s exact test was used to calculate statistical difference. Results: Out of 266 eligible patients, 221 (83.1%) were offered endocrine therapy. 216 (81.2%) accepted endocrine therapy and 5 (1.9%) declined treatment. Distribution of each therapy was as follows:Anastrozole n = 90, (33.5%), Letrozole n = 88, (32.7%), Fulvestrant n = 6,( 2.3%), Tamoxifen n = 64, (23.8%). Early termination n = 44, (21.4%). Between the ages 65-70, n = 17,(18.had an early termination or noncompliance to therapy, in the age group from 71-80 age group,n = 24,(26.4%) had an early termination, and ages 81 and above,n = 3 (12.5%) had an early termination. There were no statistical differences between Anastrozole, Letrozole, Tamoxifen & Fulvestrant (P = 0.8275, P = 0.4589, P = 0.6136). There was also no statistical difference between age groups (P = 0.2742). Overall survival was worse with early termination,n = 20 vs not n = 6 but did not reach statistical significance ( P = 0.7). Conclusions: In breast cancer patients 65 and older, age can be a factor in noncompliance. However, in our study there were no correlation between age groups and compliance or with which drug used. Tolerability was similar between each endocrine therapy, across different age groups in this geriatric breast cancer population, in a rural setting.