title: Clinical features and outcome of sporadic colorectal carcinoma in young patients: a cross-sectional analysis from a developing country.
abstract: Background. Early onset colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is rare and has been hypothesized to be a biologically and clinically distinct entity personifying aggressive disease and worse survival. Methods. Data for 131 patients was collected by retrospective chart review. Cox proportional hazard model was used to compute prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results. Early onset sporadic CRC accounted for 32% of all CRC treated in the specified time period. The mean age was 33.3 ± 7.9 years and the male to female ratio was 2 : 1. Colon and rectal cancers accounted for 55% and 45% of patients, respectively. 96% of rectal carcinoma patients received appropriate therapy as opposed to 65% of colon cancers. On multivariable analysis, appropriate reception of therapy (PR 4.99; 95% CI, 1.21-20.6) and signet ring morphology (PR 2.40; 95% CI, 1.33-4.32) were significantly associated with rectal cancers as opposed to colon cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a trend towards inferior survival for rectal carcinoma 2 years after diagnosis. Conclusion.A high prevalence of early onset CRC was noted in the study. A trend towards inferior survival was seen in patients with rectal cancer. This finding raises the possibility of rectal carcinoma being an aggressive subset of young CRC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, P.O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Nauman
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2137-906X
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Zahir
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, P.O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Eisha Mahpara
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5572-3850
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Azhar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, P.O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sobia
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4821-5783
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafiq
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, P.O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Kulsoom
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8709-7428
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ghias
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, P.O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Munira
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2453-8919
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shabbir-Moosajee