Use of trastuzumab for breast cancer : the role of age

Indication for the use of trastuzumab was given in Italy in 2000 for the treatment of HER-2 metastatic breast cancer and in 2006 for early stage breast cancer. Information on trastuzumab use and on its possible variation with age in Italy is however limited. Using health care administrative databases, we evaluated the prevalence of the use of trastuzumab, and the probability for administration since the first hospitalization for breast cancer in various age groups, in two series of Italian women diagnosed with breast cancer in the Lombardy region (2004-2009) and in the Palermo district. The ratio between trastuzumb users and patients with a hospitalization for breast cancer increased from 2.9% in 2004 up to 17.2% in 2009 in Lombardy. Patients aged <65 years were more frequent users (9.6%) compared to those aged ≥ 75 years (1.3%). Similarly, in the Palermo district the ratio increased from 10.6% in 2006 to 28.5% in 2008, with subjects aged