The impact of young age on outcome in colon cancer

Abstract

4075 Background: The early age of diagnosis (<40 years) of colon cancer (CC) is generally considered to be associated with a particularly grave prognosis. Our objective was to determine the prognostic relevance of young age on outcome in CC. Methods: Retrospective cohort study from Region 5 of the California Cancer Registry (R5 CCR). Survival by Kaplan- Meier with significance assessed by log-rank test, T-test and Chi Square where appropriate. Results: Between January 1,1994 and December 31, 2003 10,730 patients with CC were diagnosed in R5 CCR. The patients ranged in age from 18–103 years (mean 71.1 years). Two hundred fourteen patients (2%) were 40 years of age or younger. The mean age of young patients was 34.6 years (range 18–40) and for old patients 71.3 years (range 41–103). The mean number of nodes examined were 18.5 in the young CC patient and 18.4 in the remainder of CC patients. There was no significant difference in the anatomic sub-site of the primary between younger and older CC patients (p=0.43). Young patients presented with more advanced primary tumors (T4 18.7% vs. 11.6%, p=0.03), more frequently with more extensive nodal involvement (N+ (54.4% vs. 40.2%, p<0.0001), and more frequently with distant metastatic disease (M1 25.7% vs. 18.3%, p=0.005). Despite these adverse characteristics, young patients had a significantly better disease specific survival (DSS) compared to their older counterparts (5 year survival 70.1% vs. 62.3%, p=0.02). Young patients had a suggestion of improved DSS compared to older patients in Stage I disease (5 yr DSS 96.0% vs. 90.5%, p=0.34) with more certain evidence of improved DSS in Stage II (5 yr DSS 94.8% vs. 79.9%, p=0.02), Stage III (5 yr DSS 73.4% vs. 57.2%, p=0.01) and most profoundly in Stage IV (5 yr DSS 20.1% vs. 0.08%, p=0.002). Conclusions: Despite adverse characteristics at diagnosis, young CC patients have a better DSS than their older counterparts. This is in contrast to the generally held opinion that young CC patients fare worse. This may reflect the ability of young CC patients to accept and tolerate more intense and aggressive therapies. No significant financial relationships to disclose.