Introduction
Bladder cancer has a high incidence in elderly patients who have complex comorbidities. There are no data on the association between the comorbidities and overall survival (OS) of elderly patients with metastatic bladder cancer treated with chemotherapy; therefore, we evaluated the comorbidities of these patients.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed the data of stage IV bladder cancer patients > 65 years of age who underwent chemotherapy at the Busan Paik Hospital between 2008 and 2018. The comorbidities were assessed using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatric.
Results
We retrospectively reviewed the data of 22 patients. The median age at diagnosis was 71.5 years. The most common comorbidities were genitourinary and hematopoietic diseases. The median OS of all patients was 23.9 months (95% confidence interval: 4.9–42.8). Based on the univariate and multivariate analyses of the prognostic factors associated with OS, no comorbidity categories were found to be associated with OS.
Conclusions
Although this was a small, retrospective, single-center study, no comorbidity categories were associated with OS. We should not hesitate to treat elderly patients with metastatic bladder cancer, and we should always evaluate their comorbidities in clinical practice.