Trends in Age and Histology of Testicular Cancer from 1980-2019: A Single-Center Study

Abstract

Testicular cancer occurs in the testes of the male reproductive system and is the most common cancer in adolescent and young adult (AYA) men. However, recently, there have been more cases of testicular cancer in men older than 40 years. Therefore, trends of testicular cancer during the past 40 years were retrospectively examined, focusing on age and histology. Patients who were diagnosed with testicular cancer at our institution between 1980 and 2019 were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into groups by the year of diagnosis (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s), age at diagnosis (14, 15 to 39, and older than 40 years), and histological type (seminoma and non-seminoma). A total of 563 patients were diagnosed with testicular cancer over the 40-year period. The median age at diagnosis increased continuously, from 28 years to 31 years, 34 years, and 38 years in each period, respectively (p < 0.001). Moreover, most testicular cancer patients were of the AYA generation, whereas the ratio of patients older than 40 years increased significantly since 2000 (p < 0.001). The relative proportion of seminoma also increased more than 50% since 2000. In the seminoma group, median age increased from 31 years to 41 years during the 40-year period (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the age at diagnosis is rising for testicular cancer patients. Clinicians should recognize that testicular cancer affects not only the AYA generation, but there has been a shift to older than 40 years, especially in seminoma.