Table 5.

Pattern of compliance to chemotherapy by age and radiotherapy

Variable	Age			Radiotherapy
	>60 and < 65 (n = 100)	≥ 65 (n = 80)	P§	No* (n = 114)	Yes (n = 66)	P§
N. of cycles administered, no. (%)			0.42			0.01
6 cycles	81 (81)	61 (76)		84 (74)	58 (88)
5 cycles	5 (5)	4 (5)		4 (3)	5 (8)
4 cycles	4 (4)	4 (5)		6 (5)	2 (3)
3 cycles	5 (5)	6 (8)		10 (9)	1 (1)
2 cycles	4 (4)	4 (5)		8 (7)	0
1 cycle	1 (1)	1 (1)		2 (2)	0
N. of day 8 omitted, no. (%)			0.37			0.86
0	69 (69)	51 (64)		77 (68)	43 (65)
1	23 (23)	18 (22)		24 (21)	17 (26)
2	5 (5)	8 (10)		9 (8)	4 (6)
3	3 (3)	3 (4)		4 (3)	2 (3)
Rate of cycles at reduced dose, no. (%)			0.54			0.83
≤ 25%	86 (86)	66 (82)		97 (85)	55 (83)
>25%	14 (14)	14 (18)		17 (15)	11 (17)
Actual/planned duration, no. (%)			0.59			0.05
≤ 1.25	99 (99)	78 (98)		114 (100)	63 (95)
>1.25	1 (1)	2 (2)		0	3 (5)
G-CSF utilization, no. (%)			0.12		<.0001
No	91 (91)	66 (82)		109 (96)	48 (73)
Yes	9 (9)	14 (18)		5 (4)	18 (27)
Treatment discontinuation, no. (%)			0.52			0.10
protocol completion	81 (81)	61 (76)		84 (74)	58 (88)
patient's refusal	6 (6)	9 (11)		12 (11)	3 (4)
treatment toxicity	11 (11)	7 (9)		13 (11)	5 (8)
other	2 (2)	3 (4)		5 (4)	0
Low compliance†, no. (%)			0.02			0.88
No	61 (61)	34 (42)		61 (54)	34 (52)
yes	39 (39)	46 (58)		53 (46)	32 (48)

* including 21 patients who received radiotherapy after the end of chemotherapy

§ Fisher exact test or Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney test for naturally ordered variables)

† at least one of the following features: less than 6 cycles administered, withdrawal of more than one day-8 treatment, dose reduction in more than 25% of cycles, relative duration higher than 1.25, use of G-CSF treatment, treatment interruption because of patient's refusal or toxicity