Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of young patients aged ≤45 years old with non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is rare in young people, but the incidence and mortality are on the rise. We retrospectively analyzed the data of young patients aged ≤45 years diagnosed as lung cancer in our hospital from 2014 to 2021. The purpose was to explore the clinicopathological characteristics of young patients, and the risk factors affecting overall survival (OS) time. The results showed that the young patients were mainly female, had no smoking history, asymptomatic at initial diagnosis, with a high proportion of adenocarcinoma and stage I–II. We divided all patients into two groups according to age and found that the proportion of stage I–II in 18–35 years group was significantly higher than that in 36–45 years group (P = 0.021). The main manifestation of tumor was ground glass opacity (GGO) in 18–35 years group, while most showed non-GGO in 36–45 years group (P = 0.003). The proportion of minimally invasive adenocarcinoma was higher in 18–35 years group, while the invasive adenocarcinoma was higher in 36–45 years group (P = 0.004). Univariate analysis showed that asymptomatic, stage I–II, surgery, women, with few or no metastatic organs had longer OS. Multivariate analysis showed that the independent factors affecting the OS of young patients were tumor stage and more metastatic organs.