J. Harkins1, V. Pandit1, V. Nfonsam1 1The University Of Arizona,Surgery,Tucson, ARIZONA, USA
Introduction: Colon cancer (CC) continues to burden the health care system in the United States. In recent years, there has been a demographic shift in the incidence of CC among patients however; the factors associated with patient outcomes in patients with CC remains unknown. The aim of the study was to assess the factors associated with mortality and complications in patients with CC. We hypothesized that increasing age is associated with worse outcomes
Methods: We abstracted the national estimates for colon cancer diagnosis from the National Inpatient Sample database 2011 (representing 20% of all in-patient admissions). Patients undergoing surgical intervention were included. Patients were divided into groups based on age (Age 0-25yrs, 26-50yrs, 51-75yrs, and ≥76yrs). Outcome measures were: in-hospital complications (cardiac, sepsis, renal, hematological) and mortality. Regression analysis was performed.
Results:A total of 16,815 patients were included with mean age 69±13.5 years, median Charlson Comorbidity Index 2 [0-6] and 52% (n=8,751) females. 22.5% (n=3,782) patients had complications and mortality rate was 2.8% (n=465). After controlling for all factors, increasing age was independently associated with development of in-hospital complications (OR: 7.6 [1.9-16.2], p=0.001). Patient with increasing age were 1.87 times more likely to die compared to younger patients (OR: 1.87 [1.4-2.8], p=0.001).
Conclusion: Increasing age is associated with adverse outcomes in patients with colon cancer undergoing surgical intervention with worse outcomes in oldest patient (age≥76yrs). Further research is required to understand the reasons for the differences in these outcomes among patients independent of the cancer burden.
