Qiaofang Li,1 Mengchang Gao,2 Yitong Li,3 Lei Tian,1 Kuo Wang,1 Xiaolu Yan1 

1The Fifth Oncology Department, HeBei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China; 2HeBei Sub Bureau of North China Regional Air Traffic Management Bureau, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China; 3The Sixth Oncology Department, HeBei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Qiaofang Li, The Fifth Oncology Department, No. 348 Heping West Road, Xinhua District, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, 050051, People’s Republic of China, Email liqiaofang2025@outlook.com Xiaolu Yan, The Fifth Oncology Department, No. 348 Heping West Road, Xinhua District, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, 050051, People’s Republic of China, Email roadyan@163.com

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of Local treatment modalities on the survival of≥ 80 years older patients with squamous cell esophageal cancer, including cancer-directed surgery (CDS) or radiotherapy (RT).
Patients and Methods: Patients in the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database were divided into CDS Group and RT Group D according to different Local treatment modalities. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to adjust for baseline differences between the two groups. Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using the Log rank test.
Results: A total of 1588 esophageal squamous cell cancer patients of ≥ 80 years older between 1975 and 2021 were included in the final study cohort, including 165 (10.4%) patients who underwent CDS and 1423 (89.6%) patients who received radiotherapy (RT) therapy. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that local treatment modalities were prognostic factors for cause-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Patients who received CDS had better CSS (HR = 0.674; 95% CI = 0.544– 0.836; P < 0.000) and OS (HR = 0.717; 95% CI = 0.595– 0.863; P < 0.000). In the propensity-score matched (PSM) dataset, CDS was associated with better CSS (P < 0.008) and OS (P < 0.011) for patients with ≥ 80 years older; Subgroup analyses showed the prognostic effect of local treatment modalities was significantly influenced by Age. Nevertheless, no differences were observed in CSS (P = 0.584) and OS (P = 0.434) for patients with ≥ 85 years old.
Conclusion: In conclusion, CDS was the preferred treatment for esophageal squamous cell cancer patients with 80– 84 years older, and there was no difference between CDS and RT for patients with≥ 85 years older. This study highlight the value of different local treatments for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma over 80 years patients, especially for ≥ 85 years older. Further studies are needed to understand drivers of this bias and enhance equality in old patient treatment.

Keywords: elderly patients, esophageal squamous cancer, surgery, radiotherapy