The short-term and oncologic outcomes of younger VS older colorectal cancer patients undergoing primary surgery: a propensity score matching analysis

Purpose The purpose of the current study is to analyze the difference of short-term and oncologic outcomes between younger and older colorectal cancer (CRC) patients who underwent primary CRC surgery using a propensity score matching (PSM) analysis. Methods We retrospectively collected CRC patients who underwent primary surgery in a single clinical database from Jan 2011 to Jan 2020. The short-term and oncologic outcomes were compared between younger aged group and older aged group. Results A total of 4599 patients were included in this study, and there were 4196 patients in older aged group and 403 patients in younger aged group. After 1:1 ratio PSM, there were 401 patients in each group. No significant difference was found in terms of baseline information after PSM (p>0.05). Younger aged group had larger retrieved lymph nodes before (p<0.001) and after PSM (p=0.001) than older aged group. In multivariate analysis, younger age was an independent predictor of better overall survival (OS) (p<0.001, HR=2.303, 95% CI=1.658-3.199) and disease-free survival (DFS) (p=0.008, HR=1.425, 95% CI=1.098-1.850). In terms of different tumor stage after PSM, younger aged group had better OS than older group in stage II (p<0.001) and stage IV (p=0.028) CRC, and younger aged group had better DFS than older group in stage II (p=0.016) CRC. Conclusion Younger CRC patients had larger retrieved lymph nodes and better prognosis than older CRC patients after primary CRC surgery.

Automated summary

The study aims to analyze the difference in short-term and oncologic outcomes between younger and older colorectal cancer patients after primary surgery. The results showed that younger patients had larger retrieved lymph nodes and better prognosis.