The influence of age upon the survival of adult patients with carcinoma of the colon.

Five hundred adult patients with carcinoma of colon were studied to determine the relationship between age and prognosis. Regardless of the stage of disease or curative or palliative operation, younger patients had a better prognosis. Deaths after three years postresection were usually due to associated disease, which probably accounts for the poorer prognosis in the older patient. The poor prognosis frequently reported in young patients with carcinoma of the colon usually applies to those less than 25 years of age who may have a different form of the disease.