Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Older Women with Early Breast Cancer

Adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) — preferably with an aromatase inhibitor, but also tamoxifen for those intolerant of aromatase inhibitors — is indicated for estrogen-receptor−positive early breast cancer in postmenopausal women. However, the side effects listed for these drugs can be especially alarming to older women with comorbidities, who might wonder about the balance of benefits and harms. In this study, researchers sought to determine whether the general survival benefit conferred by ET applies to a real-world cohort of older women with comorbidities.

From a large U.S. breast cancer registry, researchers identified older women (age, ≥70) with estrogen-receptor–positive, node-negative invasive breast cancer and with substantial comorbid…