Prognostic risk factors for postoperative long-term outcomes in elderly stage IA gastric cancer patients

BACKGROUND: The number of gastric cancer (GC) patients with other diseases is increasing due to the aging of the population. In particular, in stage IA GC patients who have multiple diseases, surgical indications should be considered after identifying prognostic factors. We therefore investigated prognostic factors for stage IA GC in the elderly. METHODS: Patient characteristics were collected and analyzed retrospectively for elderly patients with stage IA GC who underwent curative surgical treatment at Okayama University Hospital between 2010 and 2015, and an elderly group (EG; 75–79 years old) and very elderly group (VEG; ≥80 years old) were compared. RESULTS: Fifty-three patient in the EG and 31 patients in the VEG were compared. No factors associated with clinicopathological characteristics or surgical or postoperative short-term outcomes differed significantly between groups. Although no factors in the EG appeared significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS), severe comorbidity [Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) ≥2; P=0.019], open gastrectomy (P=0.012), high volume of blood loss (≥300 mL; P=0.013) and long postoperative hospital stay (≥14 days; P=0.041) were significantly associated with poor OS. Furthermore, only CCI ≥2 [hazard ratio (HR) =9.2; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–68.9; P=0.032] was an independent prognostic factor associated with poor OS. Five-year OS was 88.9% for CCI 0/1 patients and 62.3% for CCI ≥2 patients, representing very impressive results. CONCLUSIONS: CCI ≥2 is an important prognostic factor in clinical decisions in stage IA GC patients ≥2, so careful determination of surgical indications is desirable.