Abstract:Objective To investigate the relationship between the differentiation degree of early gastric cancer and clinical characteristics, providing a more accurate theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of early gastric cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 143 patients diagnosed with early gastric cancer through pathological confirmation after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) or surgery at the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University from May 1, 2018, to December 31, 2022. According to the degree of pathological tissue differentiation, the patients were divided into a differentiated group (112 cases) and an undifferentiated group (31 cases). Gender, age, height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), smoking history, alcohol consumption history, tumor location, tumor size, gross morphology, color change, depth of invasion, ulceration, vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, atrophy, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, platelet count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were compared between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of the differentiation degree of early gastric cancer. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the predictive efficacy of related factors on undifferentiated early gastric cancer occurrence.Results There were statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) in age, color change, depth of invasion, ulceration, lymph node metastasis, platelet count, and NLR between the differentiated and undifferentiated groups of patients. There were no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) in gender, height, body weight, BMI, smoking history, alcohol consumption history, tumor location, tumor size, gross morphology, vascular invasion, atrophy, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, and PLR between the two groups. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that older age [O^R = 0.928 (95% CI: 0.879, 0.980) ] was a protective factor for undifferentiated early gastric cancer (P < 0.05). Tumor color change to whitish [O^R = 10.747 (95% CI: 2.325, 49.686) ], deeper invasion [O^R = 7.259 (95% CI: 2.241, 23.512) ], ulceration [O^R = 4.463 (95% CI: 1.201, 16.589) ], and lymph node metastasis [OR = 9.346 (95% CI: 2.144, 40.732) ] were risk factors for undifferentiated early gastric cancer (P < 0.05). The ROC curve results showed that when the tumor invaded the submucosal layer, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.674 (95% CI: 0.566, 0.781), with a sensitivity of 67.7% (95% CI: 0.486, 0.833) and specificity of 67.0% (95% CI: 0.574, 0.756). When ulceration was present, the AUC was 0.677 (95% CI: 0.579, 0.774), with a sensitivity of 87.1% (95% CI: 0.701, 0.963) and specificity of 48.2% (95% CI: 0.387, 0.579). This suggests that tumor invasion into the submucosal layer and the presence of ulceration can serve as predictive indicators for undifferentiated early gastric cancer, while age, color change, and lymph node metastasis have no predictive value.Conclusion The degree of differentiation of early gastric cancer is mainly related to age, color change, depth of invasion, ulceration, and lymph node metastasis. Older age is a protective factor for undifferentiated early gastric cancer, while tumor color change to whitish, deeper invasion, ulceration, and lymph node metastasis are independent risk factors for undifferentiated early gastric cancer. Tumor invasion into the submucosal layer and the presence of ulceration can serve as predictive indicators for undifferentiated early gastric cancer.