Differences in age and sex distributions among patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The records of a group of 337 adult patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma seen at the Stanford University Medical Center, Division of Oncology were examined for relationships between stage and histopathological classification and simple demographic characteristics. Patients with Stages I and II of disease and diffuse varieties of lymphoma were found to be younger than patients in other categories. An excess of male patients was noted particularly in younger patients with diffuse lymphoma and Stages I and II of disease. Male patients with Stages I and II disease were noted to be bimodally distributed with respect to age, with peak number of patients in the fourth and sixth decades. This was particularly apparent among patients with diffuse histiocytic lymphoma. The implications of these findings are discussed.