Metastatic lymph nodes and prognosis assessed by the number of retrieved lymph nodes in gastric cancer

Table 5 Prognostic factors of patients with gastric cancer by univariate and multivariate analyses based on Cox regression analysis in the Chinese validation cohort

Characteristics	Multivariate analysis, pT1		Multivariate analysis, pT2		Multivariate analysis, pT3		Multivariate analysis, pT4
	HR (95%CI)	P value	HR (95%CI)	P value	HR (95%CI)	P value	HR (95%CI)	P value
Sex		-		-		-		-
Male
Female
Age	1.056 (1.030-1.082)	< 0.001	1.048 (1.024-1.072)	< 0.001	1.016 (1.007-1.025)	< 0.001	1.021 (1.013-1.029)	< 0.001
Tumor location		0.034		-		0.122		-
Upper third	1				1
Middle third	0.384 (0.151-0.972)	0.043			0.828 (0.623-1.100)	0.192
Lower third	0.413 (0.209-0.815)	0.011			0.783 (0.619-0.989)	0.040
Tumor size (mm)		-		-		< 0.001		< 0.001
≤ 50					1		1
> 50					1.435 (1.201-1.715)		1.422 (1.209-1.671)
Histological type		-		-		0.260		-
Well-moderately differentiated					1
Poorly-undifferentiated					1.133 (0.934-1.374)	0.204
Signet ring cell					1.305 (0.993-1.374)	0.056
Others					1.037 (0.993-1.716)	0.851
MLNs	1.224 (1.133-1.322)	< 0.001	1.067 (1.049-1.086)	< 0.001	1.063 (1.052-1.073)	< 0.001	1.053 (1.044-1.063)	< 0.001
RLNs	0.976 (0.954-0.999)	0.044	0.979 (0.960-0.999)	0.037	0.988 (0.979-0.996)	0.003	0.974 (0.967-0.981)	< 0.001
Chemotherapy		-		-		-		-
Yes
No/unknown

-: Univariate analysis was not statistically significant; RLNs: Retrieved lymph nodes; MLNs: Metastatic lymph nodes.