Women over age 85 with early stage breast cancer are less likely to be given tamoxifen than patients in their early 80s, according to research published in the journal Cancer.

Also, women who are not treated with tamoxifen are less likely to be married or have children who are still living.

Women over 79 make up 13 percent of new diagnoses of breast cancer but make up 27 percent of breast cancer-specific deaths. A recent study showed that women age 80 and older were three times less likely to have radiation therapy after surgery for breast cancer than women 67 to 79 years old.

Tamoxifen is the standard post-surgical treatment for estrogen receptor positive breast cancer for women of all ages. Studies show that tamoxifen significantly improves ten-year survival and benefits have been shown in women age 70 and older. Elderly women with breast cancer who are not treated with tamoxifen may be put at an increased risk of cancer recurrence and death.

Researchers studied 92 women between ages 80 and 92 with estrogen-receptor positive and undetermined estrogen-receptor status breast cancer diagnosed between 1996 and 1999. Data was collected on age, race, marital status, living children, family and economic support as well as functional status and the influence of information about tamoxifen on the patient's own decision-making about tamoxifen treatment.

Investigators found that women between age 85 and 92 were approximately 25 percent less likely to receive tamoxifen therapy than women between the ages of 80 and 84.

Researchers speculate that their findings may reflect the attitudes of breast cancer physicians who may believe that as age increases, tamoxifen's risks or side effects outweigh its benefits, or that very old women will not live long enough to realize its benefits. However, researchers advise, "adjuvant tamoxifen will continue to offer most ER+ and ER-indeterminate patients their best chance for disease recurrence-free survival," regardless of age.

Other sources: Cancer