Clinicopathologic and molecular features associated with patient age in gastric cancer

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study population n (%)

Characteristic	Age ≤45 yr (n = 202)	Age > 45 yr (n = 1456)	P value
Gender			< 0.001
Male	111 (55.0)	1023 (70.3)
Female	91 (45.0)	433 (29.7)
Reason for medical checkup			< 0.001
Screening	70 (34.7)	724 (49.7)
Symptoms1	115 (56.9)	613 (42.1)
Bleeding/anemia	13 (6.4)	105 (7.2)
Weight loss	4 (2.0)	14 (1.0)
Comorbidity			< 0.001
No	188 (93.1)	1200 (82.4)
Yes	14 (6.9)	256 (17.6)
Size, cm	4.0 ± 0.3	3.7 ± 0.1	0.083
CEA	1.8 ± 0.2	4.5 ± 1.1	0.631
CA 19-9	38.3 ± 13.0	30.7 ± 6.5	0.090
Synchronous gastric cancer			0.226
No	193 (95.5)	1414 (97.1)
Yes	9 (4.5)	42 (2.9)
Location			< 0.001
Proximal	20 (9.9)	132 (9.1)
Middle	88 (43.6)	433 (29.7)
Distal	59 (29.2)	753 (51.7)
Diffuse	35 (17.3)	138 (9.5)
EGC type	116 (57.4)	889 (61.1)	0.084
I	1 (0.5)	50 (3.4)
II	113 (55.9)	820 (56.3)
III	2 (1.0)	19 (1.3)
AGC type (Borrmann)	86 (42.6)	567 (38.9)	< 0.001
I	0 (0)	22 (1.5)
II	6 (3.0)	118 (8.1)
III	47 (23.3)	334 (22.9)
IV	31 (15.3)	71 (4.9)

¹Symptoms included abdominal discomfort, abdominal pain, soreness, indigestion, anorexia, nausea, or vomiting. AGC: Advanced gastric cancer; CA 19-9: Carbohydrate antigen 19-9; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; EGC: Early gastric cancer.