Stage III should be subclassified into Stage IIIA and IIIB in the American Joint Committee on Cancer (8th Edition) staging system for pancreatic cancer

Table 1 Demographic and tumor characteristics for stage III pancreatic cancer patients n (%)

Characteristics	Number of patients
	T(1-3)N2 (n = 1526)	T4N(0-1) (n = 138)	T4N2 (n = 80)
Age
18-59	496 (32.5)	44 (31.9)	32 (40)
60-79	932 (61.1)	84 (60.9)	41 (51.2)
> 80	98 (6.4)	10 (7.2)	7 (8.8)
Race
White	1295 (84.8)	110 (79.7)	64 (80)
Black	131 (8.6)	16 (11.6)	7 (8.8)
Others	100 (6.6)	12 (8.7)	9 (11.2)
Sex
Male	809 (53.0)	72 (52.2)	39 (48.8)
Female	717 (47.0)	66 (47.8)	41 (51.2)
Grade
I	125 (8.2)	17 (12.3)	10 (12.5)
II	691 (45.2)	63 (45.7)	32 (40)
III	627 (41.1)	42 (30.4)	29 (36.3)
IV	13 (0.9)	0 (0)	2 (2.5)
Unknown	70 (4.6)	16 (11.6)	7 (8.7)
Marital status
Single	504 (33.0)	43 (31.1)	29 (36.3)
Married	987 (64.7)	91 (66.0)	49 (61.2)
Unknown	35 (2.3)	4 (2.9)	2 (2.5)
Primary site
Head of pancreas	1266 (83.0)	87 (63.0)	62 (77.5)
Other parts of pancreas	260 (17.0)	51 (37.0)	18 (22.5)
Histology
Adenomas and adenocarcinomas	809 (53.0)	74 (53.6)	39 (48.8)
Ductal and lobular neoplasms	625 (41.0)	48 (34.8)	30 (37.5)
Others	92 (6.0)	16 (11.6)	11 (13.7)

Table 2 Univariable analyses for overall survival in stage III pancreatic cancer patients

Characteristics	T(1-3)N2 (n = 1526)			T4N(0-1) (n = 138)			T4N2 (n = 80)
	HR	95%CI	aP	HR	95%CI	bP	HR	95%CI	cP
Age
18-59	Reference			Reference			Reference
60-79	1.083	0.947-1.239	0.244	1.357	0.801-2.298	0.256	1.924	1.005-3.682	0.048
> 80	1.343	1.040-1.734	0.024	2.223	0.847-5.838	0.105	1.307	0.285-5.998	0.731
Race
White	Reference			Reference			Reference
Black	1.068	0.858-1.328	0.558	1.155	0.573-2.328	0.688	0.885	0.316-2.476	0.816
Others	1.058	0.825-1.357	0.656	0.835	0.354-1.970	0.681	1.678	0.575-4.895	0.344
Sex
Male	Reference			Reference			Reference
Female	1.016	0.896-1.152	0.806	1.003	0.645-1.561	0.989	0.437	0.222-0.859	0.016
Grade
I	Reference			Reference			Reference
II	2.045	1.549-2.701	0.000	1.240	0.594-2.586	0.567	4.708	1.375-16.119	0.014
III	2.578	1.952-3.407	0.000	1.379	0.646-2.944	0.406	9.385	2.593-33.972	0.001
IV	3.788	1.973-7.272	0.000	-	-	-	14.118	1.734-114.943	0.013
Unknown	2.005	1.381-2.911	0.000	0.484	0.146-1.597	0.233	3.357	0.698-16.153	0.131
Marital status
Single	Reference			Reference			Reference
Married	0.882	0.772-1.007	0.064	0.560	0.336-0.935	0.027	1.566	0.779-3.150	0.208
Unknown	1.001	0.649-1.544	0.995	3.268	0.710-15.034	0.128	0.196	0.019-2.007	0.170
Primary site
Head of pancreas	Reference			Reference			Reference
Other parts of pancreas	1.222	1.039-1.437	0.015	0.872	0.537-1.416	0.579	1.219	0.553-2.688	0.624
Histology
Adenomas and adenocarcinomas	Reference			Reference			Reference
Ductal and lobular neoplasms	1.089	0.960-1.236	0.184	1.166	0.730-1.864	0.52	1.617	0.746-3.506	0.224
Others	1.017	0.782-1.322	0.902	0.964	0.504-1.844	0.913	1.712	0.729-4.020	0.217

Table 3 Univariable analyses for disease-specific survival in stage III pancreatic cancer patients

Characteristics	T(1-3)N2 (n = 1526)			T4N(0-1) (n = 138)			T4N2 (n = 80)
	HR	95%CI	P	HR	95%CI	P	HR	95%CI	P
Age
18-59	Reference			Reference			Reference
60-79	1.073	0.935-1.232	0.314	1.357	0.776-2.371	0.285	2.078	1.057-4.086	0.034
> 80	1.319	1.013-1.718	0.040	2.463	0.909-6.669	0.076	1.484	0.317-6.949	0.616
Race
White	Reference			Reference			Reference
Black	1.028	0.818-1.291	0.812	1.099	0.510-2.371	0.809	0.898	0.318-2.536	0.839
Others	1.062	0.8123-1.369	0.644	0.875	0.364-2.105	0.766	1.653	0.552-4.949	0.369
Sex
Male	Reference			Reference			Reference
Female	1.006	0.884-1.144	0.933	1.067	0.672-1.694	0.784	0.469	0.236-0.933	0.031
Grade
I	Reference			Reference			Reference
II	2.145	1.604-2.867	0.000	1.341	0.599-3.005	0.476	4.537	1.314-15.664	0.017
III	2.709	2.026-3.623	0.000	1.496	0.653-3.430	0.341	9.551	2.620-34.815	0.001
IV	4.151	2.151-8.010	0.000	/	/	/	12.706	1.541-104.769	0.018
Unknown	2.038	1.382-3.006	0.000	0.562	0.163-1.937	0.361	2.463	0.461-13.177	0.292
Marital status
Single	Reference			Reference			Reference
Married	0.902	0.786-1.034	0.138	0.613	0.357-1.054	0.077	1.820	0.888-3.727	0.102
Unknown	1.021	0.655-1.590	0.928	4.531	0.961-21.369	0.056	0.190	0.018-1.981	0.165
Primary site
Head of pancreas	Reference			Reference			Reference
Other parts of pancreas	1.228	1.040-1.450	0.015	0.761	0.456-1.271	0.297	1.365	0.607-3.070	0.451
Histology
Adenomas and adenocarcinomas	Reference			Reference			Reference
Ductal and lobular neoplasms	1.066	0.937-1.214	0.333	1.126	0.686-1.849	0.639	1.946	0.874-4.335	0.103
Others	1.029	0.787-1.344	0.837	0.953	0.485-1.872	0.888	2.134	0.884-5.151	0.092