Algorithm Measures Outcomes of Elderly Breast Cancer Patients

Behind the Cancer Headlines®

September 25, 2006

An algorithm based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can give researchers valuable information about how effective post-surgical chemotherapies are for the elderly. The findings appear in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Many clinical trials have assessed the benefits of post-surgical, or adjuvant, chemotherapy in breast cancer patients, but elderly patients have been underrepresented in these trials. Scientists wondered if existing Medicare claims data could accurately measure disease- free survival in elderly patients treated in the community, outside of clinical trials.

Elizabeth B. Lamont, M.D., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues developed an algorithm to examine disease-free survival in 45 older, node-positive breast cancer patients by combining data from the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) trial 9344 with data from their Medicare claims. Their findings suggest that Medicare claims data can accurately reflect 5-year disease free survival, but data on 2-year disease-free survival was not as accurate.

SOURCE:

Journal of the National Cancer Institute, September 20, 2006