title: Clinicopathological characteristics and surgical results of lung cancer patients aged up to 50 years: the Japanese Lung Cancer Registry Study 2004.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The clinicopathological characteristics and surgical results of young lung cancer patients were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven hundred and four (6.0%) patients with lung cancer, aged up to 50 years, were enrolled from among the 11,663 patients registered in the Japanese Lung Cancer Registry Study 2004, and their clinical data were compared with those of 10,959 patients older than 50 years. This epidemiological study is based on the single year registration of surgically treated patients in the major institutes in Japan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year overall survival rate (5Y-OS) and the 5-year lung cancer-related survival rate was 79.2%/69.0% (p<0.001) and 81.3%/76.6% (p=0.005) in the young/old groups, respectively. In the young/old groups, lobectomy and pneumonectomy was performed in 76.9%/78.0% and 5.7%/3.2%, respectively; adjuvant therapies were given preoperatively in 10.4%/4.7% (p<0.001) and postoperatively in 31.4%/24.5% (p<0.001). The proportions of patients with p-stage IIIA (18.2%) and adenocarcinoma histology (78.7%) were higher in the young group. The 5Y-OS was 94.8%/86.2% for p-stage IA (p<0.001), 87.0%/73.2% for p-stage IB (p=0.001), 61.0%/61.6% for p-stage IIA (p=0.595), 71.0%/48.4% for p-stage IIB (p=0.003), 49.6%/39.4% for p-stage IIIA (p=0.020), and 80.0%/24.8% for p-stage IIIB (p=0.012); it was 83.5%/80.7% for females (p=0.106) and 75.1%/62.3% for males (p<0.001) in the young/old groups. The postoperative survival was significantly better with all operative procedures in the young group. The 5Y-OS after recurrence was 17.9%/13.4% in the young/old groups (p=0.016). In the young group, the 5Y-OS was better in females (83.5%) than in males (75.1%, p=0.002), and for patients with adenocarcinoma (80.3%) than for those with squamous cell carcinoma (68.5%, p=0.013). Age up to 50 years was identified as an independent better prognostic factor on multivariate analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The postoperative survival in lung cancer patients aged up to 50 years was better than that in patients older than 50 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan. Electronic address: mi@thoracic.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Meinoshin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sawabata
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Science University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Etsuo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miyaoka
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asamura
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yoshino
authors.affiliation: Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka City General Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Immunology and Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Science and Medical School, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, Research Institute for Diseases of the Chest, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Sapporo-Kosei General Hospital, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Disease, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoi
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D000367:Age Factors; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis
keywords: Age; Lung cancer; Prognosis; Surgery; Survival; Young patients