Comparison of resilience scores of an ambulatory nonselected population of cancer patients older than age 70 or younger than age 50 receiving chemotherapy treatment.

e19657 Background: In psychology, resilience is the hability of people to cope with stressors and maintain psychological balance and adaptation despite negative life circumstances. Scanty data exists regarding resilience quantification in the population of elderly cancer patients. The objective of this study is to gain insight of eventual differences in resilience scores (RS) between older and younger patients undergoing ambulatory chemotherapy treatment of cancer. Methods: Individual RS were measured by the Wagnild and Young Scale, validated for portuguese language from Brazil. Possible scores range from 25 to 175 with higher scores reflecting higher resilience. During the years 2008 - 2009, this scale was applied by oncology nurses to 99 non-selected ambulatory cancer patients during chemotherapy treatment at Oncosinos/Hospital Regina in Novo Hamburgo, and Pronutrir/ Hospital São Mateus in Fortaleza-Brazil. The study was approved by the Ethics Comitte and all patiens signed the informed consent form. Results: We analysed a total of 48 patients with either < 50 years (24 patients) or > 70 years (24 patients). The mean age was 42±7 years in the younger group (range 19-49) and 75±3 (range 71-82) in older patients. The most common cancer types in both groups were: breast (16), colon (10) and lung (7). Older patients had stage IV disease more frequently when compared to younger patients (66% versus 33%), although this finding did not reach statistical significance, (P= 0.12). The group of patients with > 70 years had chemotherapy treatment with palliative intention more frequently (17/24) when compared to younger patients (10/24), (P= 0.058). There was no statistical difference between the total resilience score of older patients (142 ± 25), as compared to that of younger patients (138± 12), (P=0.13). Conclusions: Despite the more frequent presence of stage IV cancer and administration of chemotherapy with palliative intention in patients with > 70 years, our series did not demonstrated any statistical difference in RS between older and younger patients. To confirm and fully explain these findings, further research on relience of elderly patients with cancer is still needed. No significant financial relationships to disclose.