Unraveling the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in elderly triple-negative breast cancer: Insights from competing risk analysis using SEER data.

BACKGROUND

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype with poor outcomes, especially in elderly patients. While chemotherapy is the main systemic treatment, its survival benefits for Patients with TNBC aged ≥ 70 years remain unclear due to comorbidities and treatment intolerance. This study assessed the impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on survival outcomes using competing risk analysis.

METHODS

A cohort of 4855 elderly Patients with TNBC (≥70 years) was extracted from the SEER database (2010-2016). Propensity score matching (PSM) balanced baseline characteristics between chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy groups. Survival analyses were performed both in the unmatched cohort and in the matched cohort after PSM. For the construction of the nomogram, the full cohort was randomly divided into a training set (70 %) and a validation set (30 %) for internal validation. Overall survival (OS), breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS), and competing risks of breast cancer-specific death (BCSD) and other-cause death (OCD) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and Fine-Gray models. A nomogram was developed to predict individualized survival outcomes.

RESULTS

The median follow-up time was 62 months, during which 991 BCSD events and 1120 OCD events were recorded. After PSM, the 5-year OS rate was 74.2 % in the chemotherapy group and 62.4 % in the non-chemotherapy group (p < 0.05). After PSM, chemotherapy significantly improved OS (p < 0.05) but did not reduce 5-year BCSD (17.42 % vs. 18.47 %, p = 0.659). However, chemotherapy decreased 5-year OCD (9.39 % vs. 17.54 %, p < 0.001). In the full cohort training set, independent predictors of BCSD included tumor grade, radiation therapy, T category, and N category. The nomogram showed high accuracy (AUC: 1-year = 0.822, 3-year = 0.773, 5-year = 0.745) and excellent calibration.

CONCLUSION

Adjuvant chemotherapy significantly was associated with OCD, indirectly improving OS, but has limited direct impact on BCSD in elderly Patients with TNBC. Competing risk analysis highlights the importance of individualized treatment strategies. The validated nomogram provides a practical tool for precision medicine. Future research should explore biological mechanisms and validate these findings in multi-regional cohorts.