Table 2.
Clinicopathologic characteristic of training, validation, and propensity-score-matched cohorts stratified by TD counts.
| Characteristic | Training cohort (n = 635) | Validation cohort (n = 617) | PSM cohort (n = 339) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ≤ count ≤ 3 (n = 508) | Counts ≥ 4 (n = 127) | P value | 1 ≤ count ≤ 3 (n = 465) | Counts ≥ 4 (n = 152) | P value | 1 ≤ count ≤ 3 (n = 188) | Counts ≥ 4 (n = 151) | P value | |
| Age at diagnosisa (years) | 60 (18-75) | 57 (21-75) | 0.344 | 60 (26-75) | 58 (28-75) | 0.274 | 61 (29-75) | 58 (28-75) | 0.287 |
| Gender | 0.498 | 0.891 | 0.889 | ||||||
| Male | 281 (55.3) | 66 (52.0) | 254 (54.6) | 84 (55.3) | 106 (56.4) | 84 (55.6) | |||
| Female | 227 (44.7) | 61 (48.0) | 211 (45.4) | 68 (44.7) | 82 (43.6) | 67 (44.4) | |||
| Race | 0.802 | 0.557 | 0.558 | ||||||
| White | 399 (78.5) | 103 (81.1) | 347 (74.6) | 120 (78.9) | 140 (74.5) | 119 (78.8) | |||
| Black | 57 (11.2) | 12 (9.4) | 60 (12.9) | 16 (10.5) | 21 (11.2) | 16 (10.6) | |||
| Other | 52 (10.2) | 12 (9.4) | 58 (12.4) | 16 (10.5) | 27 (14.4) | 16 (10.6) | |||
| Tumor location | 0.495 | 0.506 | 0.508 | ||||||
| Rectum | 93 (18.3) | 29 (22.8) | 86 (18.5) | 34 (22.4) | 43 (22.9) | 34 (22.5) | |||
| Left colon | 222 (43.7) | 51 (40.2) | 221 (47.5) | 72 (47.4) | 98 (52.1) | 71 (47.0) | |||
| Right colon | 193 (38.0) | 47 (37.0) | 158 (34.0) | 46 (30.3) | 47 (25.0) | 46 (30.5) | |||
| Differentiation degree | 0.029 | 0.021 | 0.239 | ||||||
| Well/moderately differentiated | 388 (76.4) | 85 (66.9) | 372 (80.0) | 108 (71.1) | 145 (77.1) | 108 (71.5) | |||
| Poorly differentiated/undifferentiated | 120 (23.6) | 42 (33.1) | 93 (20.0) | 44 (28.9) | 43 (22.9) | 43 (28.5) | |||
| Pathological types | 0.461 | 0.882 | 0.759 | ||||||
| Adenocarcinoma | 470 (92.5) | 115 (90.6) | 427 (91.8) | 139 (91.4) | 170 (90.4) | 138 (91.4) | |||
| Mucinous adenocarcinoma/signet-ring cell carcinoma | 38 (7.5) | 12 (9.4) | 38 (8.2) | 13 (8.6) | 18 (9.6) | 13 (8.6) | |||
| Tumor size (cm) | 0.842 | 0.202 | 0.762 | ||||||
| <5 | 279 (54.9) | 71 (55.9) | 251 (54.0) | 73 (48.0) | 94 (50.0) | 73 (48.3) | |||
| ≥5 | 229 (45.1) | 56 (44.1) | 214 (46.0) | 79 (52.0) | 94 (50.0) | 78 (51.7) | |||
| T stage | 0.428 | 0.163 | 0.620 | ||||||
| T1/T2 | 29 (5.7) | 5 (3.9) | 37 (8.0) | 7 (4.6) | 11 (5.9) | 7 (4.6) | |||
| T3/T4 | 479 (94.3) | 122 (96.1) | 428 (92.0) | 145 (95.4) | 177 (94.1) | 144 (95.4) | |||
| The number of LNMs | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.091 | ||||||
| 0 | 149 (29.3) | 17 (13.4) | 151 (32.5) | 40 (26.3) | 48 (25.5) | 40 (26.5) | |||
| 1-3 | 188 (37.0) | 48 (37.8) | 181 (38.9) | 41 (27.0) | 71 (37.8) | 41 (27.2) | |||
| ≥4 | 171 (33.7) | 62 (48.8) | 133 (28.6) | 71 (46.7) | 69 (36.7) | 70 (46.4) | |||
| M stage | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.685 | ||||||
| M0 | 340 (66.9) | 60 (47.2) | 331 (71.2) | 81 (53.3) | 105 (55.9) | 81 (53.6) | |||
| M1 | 168 (33.1) | 67 (52.8) | 134 (28.8) | 71 (46.7) | 83 (44.1) | 70 (46.4) | |||
| CEA level (U/ml) | 0.032 | 0.071 | 0.962 | ||||||
| <5 | 217 (42.7) | 41 (32.3) | 207 (44.5) | 55 (36.2) | 68 (36.2) | 55 (36.4) | |||
| ≥5 | 291 (57.3) | 86 (67.7) | 258 (55.5) | 97 (63.8) | 120 (63.8) | 96 (63.6) | |||
| PNI status | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.136 | ||||||
| No | 366 (72.0) | 68 (53.5) | 340 (73.1) | 86 (56.6) | 122 (64.9) | 86 (57.0) | |||
| Yes | 142 (28.0) | 59 (46.5) | 125 (26.9) | 66 (43.4) | 66 (35.1) | 65 (43.0) | |||
aExcept these, other values were summarized as frequencies and percentages. TD: tumor deposit; CEA: carcinoembryonic antigen; PNI: perineural invasion.