BACKGROUND: As the population ages, the proportion of elderly patients with glioblastomas has increased. Recently, many researchers have focused on the treatments available to and prognoses in elderly patients with glioblastomas. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of glioblastoma patients aged 60 years old or older who were treated at the Neurosurgery Center at Beijing Tiantan Hospital from 2012 to 2014. Their clinical features, immunohistochemical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes were evaluated to determine treatment tolerance and identify prognostic factors. RESULTS: Among the 70 included patients, the median survival time was 15 months. In the univariate analysis, patients who underwent a gross total resection had longer overall survival times than patients who had a subtotal resection (P < 0.05), and patients who received postoperative adjuvant therapy had longer overall survival times than those with no postoperative adjuvant therapy (P < 0.05). The expression of the p53 protein significantly affected overall survival. Patients with low p53 protein expression had a median survival of 17 months, whereas those who had high p53 protein expression had a median survival of 11.50 months (P < 0.05). Undergoing a gross total resection, receiving postoperative adjuvant therapy and having low p53 protein expression were factors that independently contributed to longer overall survival times in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Maximal safe surgical resection followed by radiotherapy with concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide significantly prolonged overall survival times and was well tolerated in elderly patients with glioblastomas. In addition, low p53 protein expression was a significant favorable prognostic indicator in this population.