ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the clinicopathological and prognostic features of young patients with gastric cancer. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the age trend of all the inpatients gastric with adenocarcinoma pathologically confirmed from 2012 to 2017 in our institution. The cut-off value of 45 years old to distinguish the young and the middle-aged patients with gastric cancer was defined to be the bottom fifth percentile in the age histogram of all gastric cancer patients. Then we analyzed the demographic, clinicaopathological, molecular pathological and prognostic features of the two groups. Results: Based on the age and gender composition of the gastric cancer patients, 45 years was defined as the cut-off age to differentiate the young (n=108) and the middle-aged gastric (n=216) cancer patients. The gender ratio was 1.4:1 and 3.5:1 in the young group and the middle-aged group, respectively (P0.05). Conclusion: The young patients with gastric cancer exhibits different behavior and can be considered as a unique clinical entity. Further studies are required to fully understand the possible carcinogenesis and risk factors among young gastric cancer patients.