Impact of frailty on the long-term outcomes of elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

We aimed to clarify the association between frailty evaluated using the clinical frailty scale (CFS) and outcomes in elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.We retrospectively included 67 patients (aged ≥ 75 years) diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (tumor depth ≥ m3) between 2011 and 2016. The patients were retrospectively evaluated and categorized according to their CFS scores (1-7) and divided into non-frailty (scores 1-2) and frailty groups (scores 3-7). Postoperative complications, 5 year survival rate, and prognostic risk factors were analyzed.Significant differences in performance status, American Society of Anesthesiologists-Physical Status score, Charlson comorbidity index, and treatment type were observed between the two groups. Thirty-six patients underwent surgery, and morbidities with Clavien-Dindo grades ≥ II and ≥ IIIa were found in 72.2 and 47.2% of the patients, respectively. The remaining 31 patients underwent endoscopic resection and/or chemo (radio) therapy. The morbidity rate did not differ between the two groups. The 5 year survival rate was 75.3% overall and 92.7 and 60.8% in patients in the non-frailty and frailty groups, respectively (p = 0.007). Multivariate analysis revealed that frailty and cStage ≥ II were independent risk factors of overall survival (p = 0.005 and p = 0.013, respectively) and disease-specific survival (p = 0.048 and p = 0.027, respectively).Frailty greatly impacts the prognosis of elderly patients with esophageal cancer, regardless of surgical or nonsurgical treatment. The CFS score could be a useful prognostic predictor.