Objective:To evaluate the long-term efficacy of radiotherapy for elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods:Clinical data of 118 elderly patients aged ≥65 years with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with radiotherapy alone or concurrent chemoradiotherapy in Cancer Hospital affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University from January 2013 to January 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were randomly divided into the radiotherapy alone ( n=57) and concurrent chemoradiotherapy groups ( n=61). The effective rate, survival rate, adverse reactions and causes of death were compared between two groups. Rate and constituent ratio were used to describe the categorical variables, and Pearson Chi-square test was used for univariate analysis. Results:The effective rate (68.4% vs. 86.9%, P=0.016) and incidence of adverse reactions (21.1% vs. 50.9%, P<0.001) between radiotherapy alone and concurrent chemoradiotherapy groups were significantly differed. The 1-year overall survival rate significantly differed between two groups (75.4% vs. 91.8%, P=0.016), while no significant differences were observed in the 3-year overall survival rate (36.8% vs. 42.7%, P=0.088) and 5-year overall survival rate (10.7% vs. 18.0%, P=0.746). The main cause of death in two groups was recurrence combined with distant metastasis. Conclusion:Compared with the radiotherapy alone, concurrent chemoradiotherapy can significantly improve the effective rate and survival rate for elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, whereas it may increase the incidence of adverse reactions.