Life expectancy of colon, breast and testicular cancer patients. An analysis of US-SEER population-based data
A partir des données des registres américains des cancers portant sur des patients atteints d'un cancer du côlon, du sein ou du testicule diagnostiqué entre 1985 et 2011, cette étude analyse les indicateurs d'espérance de vie en fonction de l'âge au diagnostic et du type de cancer
Background : Cancer survivorship is an increasingly important issue in cancer control. Life expectancy of patients diagnosed with breast, colon, and testicular cancers, stratified by age at diagnosis and time since diagnosis, is provided as an indicator to evaluate future mortality risks and health care needs of cancer survivors. Patients and methods : The standard period life table methodology was applied to excess mortality risk estimates for cancer patients diagnosed in 1985-2011 from SEER registries, and to mortality data of the general US population. The sensitivity of life expectancy estimates on different assumptions was evaluated. Results : Younger patients with colon cancer showed wider differences of life expectancy compared to that of the general population (11.2 years in women and 10.7 in men at ages 45-49 years) than older patients (6.3 and 5.8 at ages 60-64 years, respectively). Life expectancy progressively increases in patients surviving the first years, up to 4 years from diagnosis, and then starts to decrease again approaching that of the general population. For breast cancer, the initial drop of life expectancy is less marked, and again with wider differences in younger patients, varying from 8.7 at ages 40-44 to 2.4 at ages 70-74. After diagnosis, life expectancy still decreases with time, but less than in the general population, slowly approaching that of cancer-free women. Life expectancy of men diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 30 years is estimated as 45.2 years, two years less than cancer-free men of the same age. The difference becomes 1.3 years for patients surviving the first year, and then slowly approaches zero with increasing survival time. Conclusions : Life expectancy indicators provide meaningful information on cancer patients, and can help in assessing when a cancer survivor can be considered as cured.
Annals of Oncology 2015