According to “The Independent Journal of Clinical Practice,” age is not an independent factor in cancer survival rates and should not influence decisions about how to treat older patients that have been diagnosed with cancer.

Elderly patients who have been diagnosed with cancer have been systematically excluded from clinical trials despite the fact that 60% of cancer occurs in patients over the age of 65.  Elderly participation in clinical trials does not exceed 25%, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to predict how these older patients would have responded to the latest cancer treatments. 

Dr. Eva Domingo and a team of researchers from the University of Barcelona conducted a study in which they looked at 224 patients that had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. The patients ranged from 32-92 years of age; with 75% of the participants being male and 61% of the patients being at least 65 years old. In addition, 43% of the patients had respiratory tumors, 29% had gastrointestinal tumors, and 42% had a localized tumor. Unfortunately 62% of the participants did not survive through the one year follow up period.

There were four independent factors that played a significant role in predicting survival.

·        Metastatic dissemination, a measure of how wide the cancer has spread.

·        The level of functional impairment the patient experienced.

·        The patient’s physical quality of life.

·        Serum albumin level, a major protein produced in the liver, and is essential in maintaining pressure in the vascular system. 

Domingo and her team concluded that patients have a better chance for survival if the cancer has not spread; the patient has a good physical quality of life, high serum albumin levels, and fewer problems with functional impairment. According to Domingo, "The patient's age was not an independent factor that predicted how likely they were to survive cancer. Because of this, age, in itself, should not be used to limit diagnostic or therapeutic decisions."