Table 1 Clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with early-onset and late-onset colorectal cancer

Age at diagnosis, years

58.64 (11.71)

42.24 (6.85)

63.18 (8.20)

< 0.001

Sex

0.001

Male

2720 (59.5)

544 (54.9)

2176 (60.8)

Female

1852 (40.5)

447 (45.1)

1405 (39.2)

Marital status

0.001

Married

4318 (94.1)

911 (91.9)

3390 (94.7)

Not married/divorced/widowed

270 (5.9)

80 (8.1)

190 (5.3)

Education level

< 0.001

Primary school or below

1325 (29.0)

161 (16.2)

1164 (32.5)

Middle school

1475 (32.3)

343 (34.6)

1132 (31.6)

High school/specialized secondary schools

1037 (22.7)

211 (21.3)

826 (23.1)

University/specialty or above

732 (16.0)

276 (27.9)

456 (12.7)

Region

< 0.001

Eastern

1312 (28.7)

233 (23.5)

1079 (30.1)

Northern

563 (12.3)

112 (11.3)

451 (12.6)

Southern

665 (14.5)

197 (19.9)

468 (13.1)

Central

689 (15.1)

141 (14.2)

548 (15.3)

Northeast

364 (8.0)

60 (6.1)

304 (8.5)

Southwest

652 (14.3)

165 (16.6)

487 (13.6)

Northwest

327 (7.2)

83 (8.4)

244 (6.8)

Occupation

< 0.001

Government and public sector personnel

653 (14.3)

271 (27.3)

382 (10.7)

Service workers, migrant workers, and individuals

1726 (37.8)

472 (47.6)

1254 (35.0)

Unemployment, layoffs, etc.

1929 (42.2)

181 (18.3)

1748 (48.8)

Unknow

264 (5.8)

67 (6.8)

197 (5.5)

Location of cancer

0.107

Colon

2054 (45.5)

83 (53.5)

1587 (44.8)

Rectum

2463 (54.5)

72 (46.5)

1953 (55.2)

Pathological TNM stage at first diagnosis

0.032

I

110 (2.5)

19 (2.0)

91 (2.7)

II

772 (17.6)

141 (14.7)

631 (18.4)

III

1964 (44.7)

446 (46.6)

1518 (44.2)

IV

1545 (35.2)

352 (36.7)

1193 (34.8)

Metastasis at first diagnosis

< 0.001

No metastasis

2842 (62.5)

598 (60.9)

2244 (63.0)

With liver metastasis only

639 (14.1)

126 (12.8)

513 (14.4)

With lung metastasis only

179 (3.9)

34 (3.5)

145 (4.1)

With both liver and lung metastases

191 (4.2)

31 (3.2)

160 (4.5)

Widespread metastases throughout the body

695 (15.3)

193 (19.7)

502 (14.1)

Reason for the first hospital visit

0.548

Observation of suspected symptoms by patients themselves

4003 (88.1)

882 (89.2)

3121 (87.7)

Physical examination findings

265 (5.8)

51 (5.2)

214 (6.0)

Detection of CRC during screening or treatment of other diseases

278 (6.1)

56 (5.7)

222 (6.2)

Number of visited hospital

1.94 (0.81)

2.10 (0.83)

1.89 (0.80)

< 0.001