Colorectal cancer (CRC): Now a disease of young!

Abstract

e15703 Background: Rate of CRC is increasing in younger population. Here, we aim to study the demographics of young patients (age < 50) with CRC using nationwide database. Methods: Data for this study was obtained from the 2003-2018 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). In-hospital mortality, race and hospital regions for the patients with the primary diagnosis of Malignant Neoplasms of Colon and Rectum were studied. Baseline characteristics of participants were summarized using descriptive statistics. Applicable statistical analysis like annova t-test, Pearson chi-square test and logistic regression were used. Results: 774,246 cases with CRC were identified, out of whom 99,019 (12.79%) were less than 50 years old. From 2003 to 2018, it was seen that the mean age decreased from 68.86 yrs (Median 71 years) to 65.91 yrs (Median 67 years) (p < 0.0001). Patients with age less than 50 years were mostly males (52.68%). When looking into race, Caucasians (61.93% vs 74.02%) made majority of population, but younger patients had higher proportion of African Americans (16.57% vs 12.44%), Hispanics (13.08% vs 7.59%) and Asian and Pacific Islanders (4.18% vs 2.94%) when compared to older patients (p < 0.001). Young patients were mostly residing in Southern states (40.74% vs 38.62%) and Western states (19.63% vs 17.85%), while were lesser in northeast (18.86% vs 20.13%) and midwest (20.77% vs 23.40%) when compared to older patients (p < 0.001). Obesity was associated with higher odds of developing CRC in young patients (OR = 1.106, 95% CI 1.06-1.152, p < 0.0001). Interestingly, it was seen that higher income population had higher odds of developing CRC in young patients (OR = 1.242, 95% CI 1.208-1.277, p < 0.0001). The odds of all-cause mortality was significantly lesser in young patients (OR = 0.548, 95% CI 0.527-0.570). Conclusions: There has been an uptrend of CRC cases in young patients over the years, especially in the minority races, as well as southern and western regions. It was also seen that development of CRC is associated with obesity as well as high income population in young patients.