Table 4. Characteristics of patients dying within 30 days of diagnosis of colorectal cancer in Scotland; period of diagnosis 2003–2007.

	Cases		Controls
Characteristic	Number	%	Number	%	P-value
Age group					<0.001
<65	131	11.6	4602	28.9
65–74	234	20.7	4884	30.6
75–79	220	19.5	2793	17.5
80–84	257	22.8	2138	13.4
85+	287	25.4	1529	9.6
Sex					0.002
Male	564	50.0	8721	54.7
Female	565	50.0	7225	45.3
SIMD fifth a					<0.001
1-Least deprived	153	13.6	3046	19.1
2	210	18.6	3112	19.5
3	260	23.0	3347	21.0
4	264	23.4	3411	21.4
5-Most deprived	242	21.4	3029	19.0
Previous inpatient bed days					<0.001
0	338	29.9	5488	34.4
1–7	257	22.8	5070	31.8
8–28	269	23.8	3512	22.0
29+	265	23.5	1876	11.8
Previous admission for COPD					<0.001
Yes	134	11.9	831	5.2
No	995	88.1	15 115	94.8
Previous alcohol-related admission					<0.001
Yes	83	7.4	598	3.8
No	1046	92.6	15 348	96.2
Emergency admissions within 30 days of diagnosis date	<0.001
0	212	18.8	10 108	63.4
⩾1	917	81.2	5838	36.6
Microscopically verified					<0.001
Yes	666	59.0	15 028	94.2
No	441	39.1	856	5.4
Not known	22	1.9	62	0.4
Tumour sub-site					<0.001b
Proximal colon	323	28.6	4912	30.8
Distal colon	258	22.9	4213	26.4
Rectum/rectosigmoid	258	22.9	5533	34.7
Not known	290	25.7	1288	8.1
Dukes' stage					<0.001c
A	17	1.5	1757	11.0
B	97	8.6	4176	26.2
C	127	11.2	3893	24.4
D	371	32.9	2709	17.0
Not known	517	45.8	3411	21.4
Tumour grade					<0.001d
I	8	0.7	411	2.6
II	264	23.4	8460	53.1
III	128	11.3	2186	13.7
IV	8	0.7	97	0.6
Not known	721	63.9	4792	30.1
Any treatment within 30 days of diagnosis	<0.001
Yes	425	37.6	6876	43.1
No	704	62.4	9070	56.9
Underlying cause of death					<0.001
Colorectal cancer	822	72.8	5678	77.1
Other cancer	59	5.2	468	6.4
Diseases of circulatory system	114	10.1	678	9.2
Diseases of respiratory system	39	3.5	195	2.6
Any other cause	95	8.3	345	4.7
Place of death e					<0.001
NHS acute hospital	929	82.1	3691	50.2
Home	105	9.2	1895	25.8
Hospice	42	3.7	1233	16.8
Other institution	53	4.5	530	7.2

Abbreviations: COPD=chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; SIMD=Scottish index of multiple deprivation.

^aSIMD not known for one control.

^bP<0.001 excluding not known category.

^cP<0.001 excluding not known category.

^dP<0.001 excluding not known category.

^ePlace of death not known for 15 controls.