title: Association between age and clinical characteristics of renal cell carcinoma in adult patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the association between age and clinical characteristics of renal cell carcinoma in adult patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and ten patients with renal cell carcinoma were classified into three groups: <or=40 years group, 41-59 years group and >or=60 years group. The clinical characteristics of the three groups were compared to define the association.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The male/female ratio was 1.3/1, 2.0/1, 3.3/1 in the three groups, respectively, and a significant difference appeared when comparing the <or=40 years group to the >or=60 years group (P=0.010). The respective percentage of incidental renal cell carcinoma was 27.9%, 43.2%, 31.2%, and it was significantly higher in the 41-59 years group than the >or=60 years group (P=0.047). The incidence of poorly differentiated renal cell carcinoma decreased with age increasing (11.6% vs 5.2% vs 2.7%), and there was significant difference between the <or=40 years group and the >or=60 years group (P=0.038). In the <or=40 years group, the incidence of lymph node metastasis was 18.6%, which was significantly higher than the other two groups (P<0.05). The percentage of T3a tumors was lower in <or=40 years group and the percentage of T1-3aN0M0 tumors was significantly higher in the 41-59 years group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The percentage of female patients decreases with increasing age. The higher percentage of incidental renal cell carcinoma leads to the higher percentage of T1-3aN0M0 tumors in middle-aged patients. The higher percentage of poorly differentiated renal cell carcinoma led to the higher incidence of lymph node metastasis and decreased percentage of T3aN0M0 tumors in younger patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhishun
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xianzhou
authors.forename: Fu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qiang
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012744:Sex Ratio