Unique features of gastric carcinoma in the young: a population-based analysis.

BACKGROUND. It is suspected that young patients with adenocarcinoma have a more aggressive form of disease and therefore a poorer prognosis than older patients. METHODS. A retrospective cohort study used the population-based tumor registries of Orange, San Diego, and Imperial Counties. Cases (patients age 40 years with gastric carcinoma). RESULTS. The overall, age-adjusted incidence rate of gastric carcinoma was 10.2/ 100,000. Approximately 5.5% of 3,020 cases occurred in patients age 70 years had an independent increased risk of dying from all causes in comparison with young patients (relative risk = 1.46; P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS. Young gastric carcinoma patients have adverse clinical and pathologic features in comparison with older patients. In this study, young age was not found to be an independent predictor of overall survival.