Metastatic patterns and prognosis of young lung cancer patients: a population-based study by age

We aimed to examine the different metastatic patterns and corresponding survival outcomes between all ages of young (aged <60 years) and elderly lung cancer patients.

Lung cancer patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2010 and 2015 were divided into a young and elderly group. The young group was subdivided into four consecutive subgroups. Baseline characteristics were analyzed by the Chi-square test. Survival differences were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models.

Of the total 200,362 lung cancer patients, 155,348 were elderly patients and 45,014 were young patients, including 3,461 aged <45 years, 5,697 aged 45-49 years, 13,645 aged 50-54 years, and 22,211 aged 55-59 years. Compared with elderly lung cancer patients, extrathoracic metastases were significantly more frequent in each younger group, irrespective of the site and number of extrathoracic metastatic organs. Regardless of metastasis patterns, young ages were independent prognostic factors of lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS) [<45 years: hazard ratio (HR): 0.70; 45-49 years: HR: 0.87; 50-54 years: HR: 0.90; 55-59 years: HR: 0.93, all P values were <0.001]. In each age subgroup, patients with multi-organ extrathoracic metastasis had the worst LCSS.

Young lung cancer patients across all ages were at increased risk of extrathoracic metastasis, especially multi-organ patterns, but had a reduced risk of lung cancer-related death compared to elderly patients. Regular and meticulous monitoring of potential metastasized organs is required in young lung cancer patients throughout the follow-up period.