Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Feb 5;18(1):131.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-018-3995-4.

Clinical characteristics of distal gastric cancer in young adults from Northeastern Brazil

Manuel B Braga-Neto  1   2 , Jessica Gomes Carneiro  2 , Alzira M de Castro Barbosa  3 , Igor S Silva  2 , Danielle C Maia  3 , Felipe S Maciel  2 , Rafael Jorge Alves de Alcântara  2 , Paulo Roberto L Vasconscelos  4 , Lucia L B C Braga  5   6   7
Affiliations

Clinical characteristics of distal gastric cancer in young adults from Northeastern Brazil

Manuel B Braga-Neto et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: It has been suggested that distal gastric carcinoma (GC) in younger patients has a more aggressive outcome than in older patients, however this is a controversial issue. The aim of this study was to compare clinicopathological features between younger and older patients with GC in Northeastern Brazil.

Methods: A total of 207 patients with distal GC (41 patients ≤45 years, considered younger group, and 166 > 45 years, considered older group) were evaluated prospectively during a 6 year period.

Results: The mean patient age in the young group was 37.41 years old and 64.43 years in the older group. No significant difference was found regarding gender, area of residence, history of alcohol consumption, chronic tobacco smoking. Prevalence of first-degree GC history was 12.5% (7.3% in younger group vs. 13.9% in older; p < 0.46). The most frequent symptom was gastric pain and weight loss. Diffuse infiltrative cancer was more frequently seen in younger patients (70.70% vs. 33.70%, respectively; p < 0.01), as was histologically less differentiated tumors (63.40% vs. 33.10%; p < 0.01) and stage IV of GC (48.80% vs. 30.70%; p < 0.015). Five-year survival, evaluated in 82 patients, was lower in younger patients (p = 0.045); however, after adjusting for stage of GC in the multivariate analysis, this association did not remain significant. Family history of GC and gender had no impact on survival.

Conclusions: Younger patients showed higher prevalence of diffuse type of Lauren and lower survival that was attributed to higher rate of advanced stage of GC. Gastric cancer screening strategies should also be considered in younger individuals, especially in areas of high prevalence. Further studies are warranted to determine risk factors associated with gastric cancer in young adults.

Keywords: Brazil; Distal gastric cancer; Risk factors; Young adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Institution’s Ethics Committee (Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa que Envolvem Seres Humanos CEP/HUWC) and all patients signed an Informed Consent Form.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Survival curves of gastric cancer patients according to age groups (p = 0.045)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Survival of gastric cancer patients according to stage of disease (p = 0.011)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Survival of gastric cancer patients according to family history of gastric cancer (p = 0.37)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray F. Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN. 2012. Int J Cancer. 2015;136:E359–E386. doi: 10.1002/ijc.29210. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jemal A, Bray F, Center MM, Ferlay J, Ward E, Forman D. Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin. 2011;61:69–90. doi: 10.3322/caac.20107. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chung HW, Noh SH, Lim JB. Analysis of demographic characteristics in 3242 young age gastric cancer patients in Korea. World J Gastroenterol. 2010;16(2):256–263. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i2.256. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Refaie WB, Hu C-Y, Pisters PWT, Chang GJ. Gastric adenocarcinoma in young patients: a population-based appraisal. Ann Surg Oncol. 2011;18(10):2800–2807. doi: 10.1245/s10434-011-1647-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Santoro R, Carboni F, Lepiane P, Ettore GM, Santoro E. Clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer in young european adults. Br J Surg. 2007;94(6):737–742. doi: 10.1002/bjs.5600. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types