TABLE 1.

Characteristics of operated and nonoperated patients with esophageal cancer diagnosed 1994–2002

Characteristic	Total		Operated		Nonoperated		P value
	N	%	n	%	n	%
Sex							.465
Male	796	69.1	152	71.4	644	68.6
Female	353	30.9	61	28.6	292	31.2
Histology							<.001
Squamous cell carcinoma	415	36.1	62	29.1	353	37.7
Adenocarcinoma	592	51.6	140	65.7	453	48.4
Other	141	12.3	11	5.2	130	13.9
Tumor location							<.001
Upper thoracic	82	7.1	3	1.4	79	8.4
Middle thoracic	210	18.3	36	16.9	174	18.6
Lower thoracic	770	67.0	169	79.3	601	64.2
Overlapping and unspecified	87	7.6	5	2.3	82	8.8
Age at diagnosis (y)							<.001
<50	86	7.5	24	11.3	62	6.6
50–59	221	19.2	67	31.5	154	16.5
60–69	319	27.8	80	37.6	239	25.5
70+	523	45.5	42	19.7	481	51.4
Stage							<.001
1	52	4.5	32	15.0	20	2.1
2A	174	15.1	65	30.5	109	11.7
2B	69	6.0	26	12.2	43	4.6
3	207	18.0	74	34.7	133	14.2
4	316	27.5	8	3.8	308	32.9
Unknown	331	28.8	8	3.8	323	34.5
Total	1149	100.0	213	100.0	935	100.0