Table 1. Details of the age, sex, emergency presentation, and clinical features of the cohort.
| Number (% of cohort) | Median (IQR) age | Number (%) male | Median (IQR) days before diagnosis | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entire cohort | 349 (100) | 73 (65,81) | 177 (51) | ||
| Emergency presentations | 62 (18) | 75 (65,84) | 27 (44) | ||
| Duke's staging | A | 48 | 72 (64,80) | 25 (52) | |
| B | 130 | 75 (66,82) | 62 (48) | ||
| C | 100 | 73 (65,80) | 52 (52) | ||
| D | 46 | 70 (64,78) | 23 (50) | ||
| Unknown | 25 | 77 (71,83) | 15 (60) | ||
| First symptom noted | Rectal bleeding | 97 (28) | 73 (64,81) | 56 (58) | 64 (29, 133) |
| Abdominal pain | 82 (24) | 70 (61,79) | 42 (51) | 133 (49, 221) | |
| Diarrhoea | 76 (22) | 70 (61,78) | 35 (46) | 98 (38, 217) | |
| Constipation | 38 (11) | 75 (67,81) | 22 (58) | 126 (59, 222) | |
| Loss of weight | 26 (7) | 75 (65,82) | 8 (31) | 55 (31, 170) | |
| Mild anaemia | 37 (11) | 74 (67,80) | 20 (54) | 133 (81, 305) | |
| Severe anaemia | 43 (12) | 79 (75,85) | 18 (42) | 100 (36, 218) | |
| Symptoms noted at any time before diagnosis | Rectal bleeding | 136 (39) | 73 (65,81) | 77 (57) | 65 (29, 129) |
| Abdominal pain | 131 (38) | 71 (62,79) | 60 (46) | 85 (36, 194) | |
| Diarrhoea | 113 (32) | 73 (64,79) | 51 (45) | 78 (33, 181) | |
| Constipation | 80 (23) | 73 (63,81) | 38 (48) | 70 (16, 144) | |
| Loss of weight | 80 (23) | 72 (64,80) | 34 (43) | 47 (20, 104) | |
| Mild anaemiaa | 80 (23) | 73 (67,81) | 40 (50) | 93 (42, 200) | |
| Severe anaemiaa | 73 (21) | 79 (73,84) | 30 (41) | 85 (23,168) | |
IQR=interquartile range.
a
Twenty-three of these patients had both mild and severe anaemia at some point before diagnosis. Mild anaemia defined as a haemoglobin 10.0–12.9 g dl−1, severe as=<9.9 g dl−1.