Impact of age on prognosis in Iranian patients with gastric carcinoma: review of 742 cases.
BACKGROUND
Gastric carcinoma is one of the most common gastrointestinal malignancies worldwide. Some studies have suggested that it has a worse prognosis in non-elderly than in elderly patients. The aim of the present study was to clarify whether the patient's age is an independent prognostic factor.


METHODS
A total of 742 patients with gastric carcinoma, who had registered in our cancer registry center between years 2001- 2006 were reviewed to investigate the prognostic significance of age. They were divided into the following two groups: non-elderly (under 70 years) and elderly (70 years or older). The clinicopathological features were reviewed retrospectively and a multivariate analysis was carried out.


RESULTS
Lymph node metastasis and differentiated type were more frequently observed in non-elderly than in elderly patients (P<0.0001) and older patients diagnosed with more advanced stages compared with those younger than 70 years old (P=0.015). 5-year survival rates were 27.2 and 15.2% in non-elderly and elderly patients, respectively, the difference being statistically significant (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that age and wall penetration were independent prognostic factors


CONCLUSIONS
Age clinically serves as an important predictor of survival in patients with gastric carcinoma and elderly patients with gastric carcinoma have a worse prognosis than nonelderly patients.
Moghimi-Dehkordi
Bijan
B
Research Center of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University(MC), Tehran, Iran. b_ moghimi_ de@ yahoo.com
Safaee
Azadeh
A
Fatemi
Reza
R
Ghiasi
Somayeh
S
Zali
Mohammad Reza
MR
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult