Table 2. Demographic and clinical characteristics of 381 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer categorized into two groups: with and without missed opportunities to initiate an earlier endoscopic referral.

	Patients with at least one missed opportunity (n=161)		Patients with no missed opportunities (n=220)		P valuea
	n	%	n	%
Age
Median	71		67		<0.001
<65	47	29.2	96	43.6	<0.001
65–74	45	28.0	70	31.8
≥75	69	42.9	54	24.6
Race
White Caucasian	74	52.1	118	62.4	0.05
Black	56	39.4	50	26.5
Hispanic and other races	12	8.2	21	11.1
Comorbid medical diseases
Congestive heart failure	20	12.4	9	4.1	0.003
Coronary artery disease	43	26.7	38	17.3	0.03
Hypertension	101	62.7	134	60.9	0.75
Diabetes	44	27.3	48	21.8	0.23
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	21	13.0	28	12.7	1.00
Any of the above medical diseases	122	75.8	159	72.3	0.48
Comorbid psychological/mental disorders
Depression	18	11.2	21	9.6	0.61
Anxiety	4	2.5	8	3.6	0.57
Dementia	5	3.1	5	2.3	0.75
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)	7	4.4	13	5.9	0.64
Schizophrenia	1	0.6	1	0.5	1.00
Bipolar	4	2.5	2	0.9	0.25
Alcohol	21	13.0	40	18.2	0.20
Any of the above psychological/mental disorders	42	26.1	74	33.6	0.12

^aP value based on the nonparametric Wilcoxon's continuity-corrected normal approximation two-sample test for age, and on Fisher's exact test for the rest of the variables.