The Impact of Age on the Prognosis of Vulvar Cancer.

INTRODUCTION

Younger women are particularly affected by the increase in the incidence of vulvar cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate how clinical characteristics differ depending on the patient´s age and what role the age of initial diagnosis plays in the prognosis. Patients andMethods: Included patients were divided into groups aged below or above 50 years. The disease-free survival (DFS) was calculated and a multivariate discriminant analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

Of the 300 patients, 79 were ≤50 years and 221 were >50 years. The median age was 64 years (19-96 years). There were no differences between the groups regarding lymph node (LN) status and distant metastasis, but T1 tumours were more frequent in patients ≤50 years (77% vs. 62%, p = 0.02). The DFS only differed between the groups when there were no LN metastases. The nodal status was the predominant prognostic factor for the DFS regardless of age. In node-free patients, the 5-year DFS was 49% for the ≤50 years group and 89% for the >50 years group (p = 0.008), whereas there was no difference if a LN was involved.

CONCLUSION

In node-free patients, the risk for recurrence is lower for patients older than 50 years.