Clinical characteristics and prognosis of young patients with colorectal cancer in Eastern China

Table 1 Clinical and pathologic characteristics of colorectal cancer in the younger group and older group n (%)

Variable	Younger group (n = 42) ( ≤30 yr)	Older group (n = 1293) (> 30 yr)	P value
Gender			NS
Male	24 (57.1)	738 (57.1)
Female	18 (42.9)	555 (42.9)
Location of tumor
Cecum	1 (2.4)	69 (5.3)
Ascending colon	1 (2.4)	154 (11.9)
Hepatic flexure	1 (2.4)	86 (6.7)
Transverse colon	2 (4.8)	52 (4.0)
Splenic flexure	1 (2.4)	29 (2.2)
Descending colon	6 (14.3)	49 (3.8)
Sigmoid	5 (11.9)	201 (15.5)
Rectosigmoid junction	0 (0)	16 (1.2)
Rectum	25 (59.5)	637 (49.3)	0.1911
Histology
Mucinous cancer	14 (33.3)	179 (13.8)	0.0002
Signet ring cell cancer	3 (7.1)	22 (1.7)	0.0103
Papillary adenocarcinoma	5 (11.9)	237 (18.3)
Tubular adenocarcinoma	17 (40.5)	732 (56.6)
Undifferentiated adenocarcinoma	1 (2.4)	6 (0.5)
Adenosquamous cancer	0 (0)	2 (0.2)
Adenocarcinoma (unclassified)	2 (4.8)	115 (8.9)
Differentiation			0.000
Well	2 (9.5)	276 (21.3)
Moderate	14 (33.3)	630 (48.7)
Poor	25 (28.6)	203 (15.7)
Undifferentiated	1 (2.4)	184 (14.2)
Stage T			0.264
Tis	0 (0)	17 (1.3)
T1	1 (2.4)	41 (3.2)
T2	4 (9.5)	232 (17.9)
T3	16 (38.1)	526 (40.7)
T4	21 (50.0)	477 (36.9)
Number of metastatic lymph nodes			0.001
0	11 (26.2)	669 (51.7)
1-3	10 (23.8)	337 (26.1)
> 4	15 (35.7)	184 (14.2)
Nx	6 (14.3)	103 (8.0)
Distant metastasis			0.021
M0	30 (71.4)	1094 (84.6)
M1	12 (28.6)	99 (15.4)
AJCC stage			0.001
0	0 (0)	17 (1.3)
I	1 (2.4)	221 (17.1)	0.0084
II	9 (21.4)	427 (33.0)
III	19 (45.2)	428 (33.1)
IV	13 (31.0)	200 (15.5)	0.0075
Approach of surgery			0.028
Radical surgery	28 (66.7)	1084 (83.8)
Palliate surgery	10 (23.8)	151 (11.7)
Unresectable	4 (9.5)	58 (4.5)

¹Rectum vs other sites of tumor;

²Mucinous cancer vs other histological types;

³Signet ring cell cancer vs other histological types;

⁴ Stage I vs other stages;

⁵Stage IV vs other stages. Tis: Tumor in situ; NS: Non-significance.

Table 2 Multivariate analysis (Cox proportional hazard model) of prognostic factors for 1335 patients with colorectal cancer

Variable	OR	95%CI	P value
Stage (III + IV/I + II)	2.196	1.827-2.639	0.000
Approach of surgery (non-radical/radical)	4.496	3.718-5.437	0.000
Age (> 30 yr/ ≤ 30 yr)	0.866	0.592-1.269	0.461
Gender (male/female)	0.997	0.852-1.167	0.970
Tumor location (rectum/colon)	1.270	1.084-1.488	0.003
Differentiation (moderate + well/low )	0.802	0.650-0.990	0.041
Histology (others/mucinous)	0.791	0.632-0.990	0.041

Table 3 Survival of subgroup patients by stratified analysis with stage and approach of surgery

	Age (yr)	n	5-yr OS	10-yr OS	Median survival time (mo, 95%CI)
Total1	≤ 30	42	33.90%	26.10%	29.0 (18.0-40.0)
	> 30	1293	60.10%	52.20%	140.0 (111.6-168.4)
Stage I and II	≤ 30	10	68.60%	/4	/4
	> 30	665	78.60%	69.80%	264.0 (203.5-324.5)
Stage III and IV2	≤ 30	32	24.60%	14.80%	22 (2.6-41.4)
	< 30	628	40.40%	33.30%	35 (27.9-42.1)
Radical surgery3	≤ 30	28	44.30%	34.20%	40.0 (10.1-69.9)
	> 30	1082	69.60%	60.50%	/5
Non-radical surgery	≤ 30	14	14.30%	0%	6 (2.3-9.7)
	> 30	211	11.80%	0%	11 (9.2-12.8)

¹χ² = 14.146, P = 0.000;

²χ² = 5.101, P = 0.024;

³χ² = 7.830, P = 0.005;

⁴The sample was too small to analyze;

⁵The median survival time was not reached.