• Paulien G Westhoff, Alexander de Graeff, Anna K L Reyners, Evelyn M Monninkhof, Carla C Rodenhuis, Marco van Vulpen, Jan Willem H Leer, Corrie A M Marijnen, Yvette M van der Linden, and Dutch Bone Metastasis Study Group.
• Dept. of Radiotherapy, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.g.westhoff@umcutrecht.nl.
• Radiother Oncol. 2014 May 1; 111 (2): 264-9.

BackgroundMultimorbidity and declining performance in elderly cancer patients may result in less treatment benefit. We investigated whether age is a predictor for pain response and quality of life (QoL) after radiotherapy in patients with painful bone metastases.MethodsThe database of the Dutch Bone Metastasis Study was used (1996-1999). 1157 patients, irradiated for painful bone metastases, rated their pain, QoL-domains and overall health at baseline and during follow-up. Response was calculated taking into account changes in pain score and medication. Patients were grouped into three age cohorts: A: <65 (n=520), B: 65-74 (n=410) and C: ⩾75years (n=227).ResultsNo significant difference existed in pain response between cohorts: 78% in cohort A, 74% in B and 67% in C. When assessing baseline QoL, a significant difference in activity level was noticed, with more impairment in elderly compared to younger patients (C versus B (p=0.01), C versus A (p<0.001)). Other QoL-domains were similar at baseline and during follow-up among cohorts. A pain response was significantly associated with improvement of health-related QoL (OR 3.74, 95% CI 2.66-5.25).ConclusionThe majority of elderly patients with painful bone metastases responded to radiotherapy and showed comparable overall QoL compared to their younger counterparts. Age is not a predictor for pain response or QoL.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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