Purpose: Quality of life (QOL) measures are critical to the evaluation of new cancer treatments, particularly for elderly patients. Our intent was to assess patterns of use of QOL endpoints in colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment research and to summarize current knowledge about how CRC treatment affects elderly patients.
Patients and methods: We searched MEDLINE for English-language, human trials published from 1995 to 2005 that met the following criteria: reported on patients with CRC, were not surgery-only cohorts, and included a QOL or functional endpoints. Trials specifically reporting data on elderly patients were reviewed in depth and summarized.
Results: One hundred twenty-one eligible studies and 10 trials with elderly-specific data were found. The median number of trials published annually increased from 5 (range, 4-8 trials) between 1995 and 1999 to 14.5 (range, 11-22 trials) between 2000 and 2005. Chemotherapy was the most commonly studied treatment (55%), and metastatic CRC (55%) was the most commonly studied population. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer C30, with or without C38, was the most frequently used instrument (49%). Studies reporting on elderly patients showed that many patients experience a decline in physical function immediately after surgery and have increased need for supportive services. Little information is available on the effect of chemotherapy in elderly patients. Use of QOL and functional measures in treatment-related CRC research has increased; however, it continues to be hampered by a lack of dissemination and methodologic problems.
Conclusion: Missing data from patient attrition, limitations of assessment methods, and a small number of patients treated with chemotherapy in the trials reporting on elderly patients seriously limit our ability to draw conclusions from this survey about how treatment affects QOL or function in CRC.