Age-related variations in colon and rectal cancer: An analysis of the national cancer database

Characteristics of colorectal diseases may vary according to the patient's age. By using a large national database, we assessed age-related differences in characteristics and treatments of colorectal cancer and to evaluate the influence of age on outcomes.

Retrospective cohort analysis of all patients who underwent surgical resection for colorectal cancer in the US National Cancer Database between 2005 and 2019. Patients were divided into 3 age groups: young age onset (<50 years), middle age group (50-79 years), and very old (≥80 years). Differences in tumor characteristics among groups were assessed. The main outcomes were clinical and treatment characteristics and short-term mortality.

In total, 662,102 patients with colon cancer and 114,460 with rectal cancer were included-36.1% of young patients with colon cancer presented with metastatic disease. Older patients underwent open surgery more often and received chemotherapy and radiation therapy less often than did the other 2 groups regarding disease stage. Very old patients, compared to middle-aged and young patients, had longer hospitalization and significantly higher rates of 30-day mortality after colon (7.6% vs 2.4% vs 0.7%; P < .001) and rectal (5.9% vs 1.3% vs 0.3%; P < .001) cancer surgery and higher 90-day mortality after colon (12.9% vs 4.6% vs 1.7% P < .001) and rectal (10.3% vs 2.6% vs 0.7%; P < .001) cancer surgery.Older patients had significantly shorter overall survival than the other 2 groups, regardless of pathologic stage, Charlson -Deyo comorbidity score, or tumor side.

Significant age-related disparities in characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of colorectal cancer were found in this study. Recognizing these differences can be the first step toward reducing age-related treatment differences.