Table 1.
Comparison of clinic-pathological characteristics among the young, middle-aged, and elderly thyroid cancer patients
| Factors | 20 - 44 years old N (%) |
45 - 64 years old N (%) |
> 65 years old N (%) |
P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||||
| Female | 20,908 (81.9) | 19,547 (75.4) | 6,009 (71.1) | |
| Males | 4,612 (18.1) | 6,378 (24.6) | 2,438 (28.9) | < 0.001 |
| Married status | ||||
| Married | 15,226 (62.6) | 17,779 (72) | 4,819 (60.1) | |
| Widowed | 106 (0.4) | 710 (2.9) | 1,766 (22.0) | |
| Separated or divorced | 1,361 (5.6) | 2,494 (10.1) | 756 (9.4) | |
| Single or unmarried | 7,627 (31.4) | 3,695 (15.0) | 682 (8.5) | < 0.001 |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| White | 20,448 (81.4) | 20,911 (81.6) | 6,772 (81.0) | |
| African-American | 1,381 (5.5) | 1,584 (6.2) | 469 (5.6) | |
| Other | 3,299 (13.1) | 3,121 (12.2) | 1,124 (13.4) | < 0.001 |
| Insurance status | ||||
| Uninsured | 994 (5.2) | 1,029 (5.1) | 173 (2.6) | |
| Insured | 18,065 (94.8) | 19,106 (94.9) | 6,499 (97.4) | < 0.001 |
| Histology subgroup | ||||
| C-PTC | 16,997 (66.6) | 15,580 (60.1) | 4,654 (55.1) | |
| V-PCT | 6,818 (26.7) | 8,294 (32.0) | 2,603 (30.8) | |
| FCT | 1,360 (5.3) | 1,406 (5.4) | 679 (8.0) | |
| MTC | 336 (1.3) | 504 (1.9) | 271 (3.2) | |
| ATC | 9 (0.0) | 141(0.5) | 240 (2.8) | <0.001 |
| Grade | ||||
| Well differentiated | 4,478 (81.1) | 4,169 (76.8) | 1,121 (57.8) | |
| Moderately differentiated | 882 (16.0) | 862 (15.9) | 341 (17.6) | |
| Poorly differentiated | 132 (2.4) | 188 (3.5) | 151(7.8) | |
| Undifferentiated | 27 (0.5) | 209 (3.9) | 328 (16.9) | <0.001 |
| Tumor size (cm) | ||||
| < 1.0 | 7,373 (30.1) | 9,848 (39.7) | 2,746 (35.2) | |
| 1.1 - 2.0 | 7,890 (32.2) | 7,305 (29.5) | 1,950 (25.0) | |
| 2.1 - 4.0 | 6,836 (27.9) | 5,484 (22.1) | 1,865 (23.9) | |
| > 4.0 | 2,427 (9.9) | 2,162 (8.7) | 1,246 (16.0) | < 0.001 |
| Surgery | ||||
| No surgery | 391 (1.6) | 555 (2.2) | 563 (6.8) | |
| Lobectomy | 2,572 (10.2) | 3,099 (12.1) | 1,152 (14.0) | |
| Total thyroidectomy | 22,209 (88.2) | 21,895 (85.7) | 6,533 (79.2) | < 0.001 |
| Radiotherapy | ||||
| Yes | 14,344 (56.5) | 13,312 (51.6) | 3,841 (45.8) | |
| No | 11,044 (43.5) | 12,489 (48.4) | 4,553 (54.2) | < 0.001 |
|
Lymph nodes resection |
||||
| No | 10,786 (42.5) | 13,306 (51.5) | 5,035 (59.9) | |
| Yes | 14,617 (57.5) | 12,532 (48.5) | 3,370 (40.1) | < 0.001 |
| AJCC 6th T stage | ||||
| T0 | 34 (0.1) | 44 (0.2) | 29 (0.4) | |
| T1/T2 | 18,933 (76.6) | 19,186 (76.4) | 5,207 (65.2) | |
| T3/T4 | 5,755 (23.3) | 5,895 (23.5) | 2,749 (34.4) | < 0.001 |
| AJCC 6th N stage | ||||
| N0 | 17,368 (72.5) | 20,162 (81.3) | 6,433 (81.7) | |
| N1 | 6,600 (27.5) | 4,646 (18.7) | 1,445 (18.3) | < 0.001 |
| Distant metastasis | ||||
| No | 24,848 (99.2) | 25,011 (98.3) | 7,731 (93.8) | |
| Yes | 191 (0.8) | 431 (1.7) | 507 (6.2) | < 0.001 |
| AJCC 6th TNM stage | ||||
| I | 24,624 (98.4) | 13,037 (53.4) | 3,629 (46.1) | |
| II | 244 (1.0) | 3,297 (13.5) | 964 (12.2) | |
| III | 30 (0.1) | 5,249 (21.5) | 1,587 (20.1) | |
| IV | 129 (0.5) | 2,812 (11.5) | 1,698 (21.6) | < 0.001 |
Abbreviations: AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer, TNM tumor-node-metastasis, C-PTC Classic Papillary Thyroid Cancer, VPTC Variant Papillary Thyroid Cancer, FTC, follicular thyroid cancer, MTC Medullary thyroid cancer, ATC Anaplastic thyroid cancer.