Table 3.

Proportion of patients younger than 50 years old versus older than 50 years old treated with either conventional or high-dose therapy during different time periods

Treatment	Time period, no. (%)
	1981 to 1987	1988 to 1992	1993 to 1998	1999 to 2002
Younger than 50 y
Conventional therapy	197 (94.2)	455 (83.9)	299 (40.6)	43 (21.3)
High-dose therapy	12 (5.7)	87 (16.1)	437 (59.4)	159 (78.7)
50 y or older
Conventional therapy	1.107 (98.8)	3.223 (97.4)	2.003 (60.0)	438 (40.1)
High-dose therapy	13 (1.2)	86 (2.6)	1.336 (36.4)	654 (59.9)

*Chi-square test for equal proportions; all P values were less than .001.