Table 1. Baseline patient characteristics (ITT population).

	FOLFOX4 (n=317)		FOLFOX4- placebo (n=351)		FOLFOX4- bevacizumab (n=349)		XELOX (n=317)		XELOX- placebo (n=350)		XELOX- bevacizumab (n=350)
Characteristic	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Gender
Male	204	64	186	53	205	59	194	61	205	59	213	61
Female	113	36	165	47	144	41	123	39	145	41	137	39
Age, years
Median	62		60		60		61		61		61
Range	24–83		26–83		19–82		24–84		18–83		18–86
ECOG performance status
0	163	51	211	60	198	57	160	50	207	59	207	59
1	154	49	138	40	147	43	157	50	143	41	142	41
2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	<1
Primary tumour site
Colorectal	17	5	25	7	28	8	30	9	30	9	32	9
Colon	200	63	232	66	223	64	204	64	233	67	236	67
Rectal	100	32	94	27	98	28	83	26	87	25	82	23
Stage at first diagnosis
Local regional	144	45	141	40	128	37	133	42	138	39	122	35
Metastatic	173	55	210	60	221	63	184	58	212	61	228	65
Number of metastatic sites
0	1	0.3	1	0.3	1	0.3	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	118	37.2	142	40.5	150	43.0	127	40.1	155	44.3	134	38.3
2	121	38.2	122	34.8	132	37.8	106	33.4	112	32.0	121	34.6
3	47	14.8	65	18.5	44	12.6	55	17.4	58	16.6	64	18.3
⩾4	30	9.5	21	6.0	22	6.3	29	9.1	25	7.1	31	8.9
Alkaline phosphatase
Abnormal	135	43	147	42	146	42	132	42	149	43	156	45
Normal	182	57	201	58	199	58	183	58	200	57	191	55
Previous adjuvant therapy
No	234	74	266	76	261	75	229	72	259	74	274	78
Yes	83	26	85	24	88	25	88	28	91	26	76	22

Abbreviations: ITT=intent-to-treat; ECOG=Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; FOLFOX4=infused fluorouracil, folinic acid and oxaliplatin; XELOX=capecitabine and oxaliplatin.