Long term survival analysis: breast cancer and age at diagnosis

The role of age at surgery of breast cancer patients as a determinant of relative survival after making allowance for clinical profile was investigated on a case series of 716 women followed for more than 20 years in one single institution. Multiplicative and additive models for grouped data were adopted to model the standardized mortality ratio and the excess death rate respectively. The models were fitted by the GLIM system assuming a Poisson error function. We conclude that operable breast cancer has a relatively lower impact on total mortality in older patients (65 years or more) than in younger ones and, moreover, the older patients have a more favourable course.