Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with papillary thyroid cancer(PTC)by age grouping.Methods:The patients were divided into three groups according to age at diagnosis: old(≥60 years, 90 cases), middle(40-59 years, 359 cases)and young patients(<40 years, 203 cases). The clinical data of 652 patients with PTC who were admitted to the Department of Thyroid Surgery of Beijing Hospital from December 2019 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed.The patients were divided into elderly group(≥60 years old, 90 cases), middle-aged group(40-59 years old, 359 cases)and young group(<40 years old, 203 cases). The clinical characteristics, ultrasound characteristics and invasion-related factors of patients in different groups were analyzed by statistical methods.Results:Compared with the young and middle-aged group, the elderly patients with PTC had a higher proportion of microcarcinoma(75.6%, 75.2%, 61.4%, χ2=13.054, P=0.001), less cervical lymph node metastasis(24.4%, 34.3%, 58.1%, χ2=41.650, P<0.001), and lower proportion of metastatic lymph nodes(0.08, 0.14, 0.24, χ2=40.618, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in tumor location and extra glandular invasion among the three age groups(35.56%, 36.2%, 38.4%, χ2=0.959, P=0.545). Conclusions:Compared with the young and middle-aged groups, PTC showed low invasiveness in the elderly population.In addition to surgical treatment, for elderly patients with low-risk clinical characteristics, it is worth performing a further study on whether careful observation or palliative treatment can be selected after comprehensive evaluation.