Table 2.
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of the under-50 and above-50 Groups, 2007-2017
| Variables | All patients, | Age groups |
P-value b | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n=6, 172 a | <50 years n=893 |
≥50 years n=5,279 |
|||||
| N | (%) | n | (%) | n | (%) | ||
| Gender | 0.015 | ||||||
| Male | 3,342 | (54.1) | 450 | (50.4) | 2,892 | (54.8) | |
| Female | 2,830 | (45.9) | 443 | (49.6) | 2,387 | (45.2) | |
| Ethnicity | <0.001 | ||||||
| Malay | 2,216 | (35.9) | 453 | (50.7) | 1,763 | (33.4) | |
| Chinese | 3,503 | (56.8) | 348 | (39.0) | 3,155 | (59.8) | |
| Indian | 382 | (6.2) | 74 | (8.3) | 308 | (5.8) | |
| Others | 71 | (1.2) | 18 | (2.0) | 53 | (1.0) | |
| Smoking status | <0.001 | ||||||
| Never | 1,811 | (29.3) | 295 | (33.0) | 1,516 | (28.7) | |
| Quitting ≥30 days | 330 | (5.3) | 67 | (7.5) | 263 | (5.0) | |
| Active | 500 | (8.1) | 47 | (5.3) | 453 | (8.6) | |
| Family history of colorectal cancer | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 3,075 | (49.8) | 431 | (48.3) | 2,644 | (50.1) | |
| Yes | 186 | (3.0) | 48 | (5.4) | 138 | (2.6) | |
| Symptoms at presentation | |||||||
| Alteration of bowel habit | 1,937 | (31.4) | 278 | (31.1) | 1,659 | (31.4) | 0.860 |
| Abdominal or anal pain | 1,583 | (25.6) | 266 | (29.8) | 1,317 | (24.9) | 0.002 |
| Blood in the stool or rectal bleeding | 1,564 | (25.3) | 216 | (24.2) | 1,348 | (25.5) | 0.392 |
| Weight loss | 1,124 | (18.2) | 163 | (18.3) | 961 | (18.2) | 0.972 |
| Anemia | 430 | (7.0) | 57 | (6.4) | 373 | (7.1) | 0.459 |
| Appetite loss | 427 | (6.9) | 53 | (5.9) | 374 | (7.1) | 0.211 |
| Intestinal obstruction | 356 | (5.8) | 66 | (7.4) | 290 | (5.5) | 0.025 |
| Treatment received | |||||||
| Surgery | 4,523 | (73.3) | 676 | (75.7) | 3,847 | (72.9) | 0.078 |
| Chemotherapy and biological Therapy | 2,120 | (34.3) | 442 | (49.5) | 1,678 | (31.8) | <0.001 |
| Radiotherapy | 854 | (13.8) | 154 | (17.2) | 700 | (13.3) | 0.001 |
| Supportive or palliative care | 270 | (4.4) | 30 | (3.4) | 240 | (4.5) | 0.109 |
| Diabetes mellitus status | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 2,883 | (46.7) | 503 | (56.3) | 2,380 | (45.1) | |
| Yes | 1,042 | (16.9) | 65 | (7.3) | 977 | (18.5) | |
| Primary cancer site | 0.274 | ||||||
| Left side | 4,047 | (65.6) | 562 | (62.9) | 3,485 | (66.0) | |
| Right side | 554 | (9.0) | 72 | (8.1) | 482 | (9.1) | |
| Both sides | 104 | (1.7) | 9 | (1.0) | 95 | (1.8) | |
| Cancer stage at diagnosis | 0.002 | ||||||
| I | 416 | (6.7) | 52 | (5.8) | 364 | (6.9) | |
| II | 1,081 | (17.5) | 135 | (15.1) | 946 | (17.9) | |
| III | 1,311 | (21.2) | 206 | (23.1) | 1,105 | (20.9) | |
| IV | 1,121 | (18.2) | 201 | (22.5) | 920 | (17.4) | |
a, Incomplete information is reported for smoking status (n=3,531; 57.2%); family history of colorectal cancer (n=2,911; 47.2%), diabetes mellitus status (n=2,247; 36.4%), primary cancer site (n=1,467; 23.8%) and cancer stage at diagnosis (2,243, 36.3%); b, Pearson's chi-square test of independence.