Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of patients and controls

Characteristic	Patients (n=31)	Controls (n=27)	P
Age (mean ±SD, range)	63 ± 13 (27–84)	59.1 ±14.8 (23–89)	0.21
Sex
female	12	15
male	17	12
Tumor location
ascending colon	7
transverse colon	1
descending colon	7
sigmoid colon	14
Tumor stage (Dukes')
B1	2
B2	17
C	7
D	1
Not known	2
Tumor differentiation
Poorly differentiated	7
Moderately diff.	15
Well differentiated	2
Mucinous	3
Not known	2