Table 2. Characteristics of study population according to response status.

			According to responder status in 5-year follow-up
	Baseline (N=906)	Deceased (N=320)	Full responder (N=483)	Short-questionnaire responder (N=25)	Non-responder (N=78)	χ2-test: (P) responder vs Non-respondera
Sex						0.0072
Female	42%	45%	38%	60%	50%
Male	58%	55%	62%	40%	50%
Age at follow-up (years)						<0.0001
−59	9%	7%	11%	0%	12%
60–69	23%	18%	28%	20%	15%
70–79	37%	33%	42%	24%	24%
80+	31%	43%	20%	56%	49%
Mean (s.d.)	73.7 (10.2) years	76.2 (10.5) years	71.3 (9.2) years	79.6 (8.5) years	76.2 (11.3) years
Living with partner at follow-up	NA	NA	76%	56%	NA	NA
School education						0.1556
⩽9 years	70%	71%	69%	96%	72%
10–11 years	16%	16%	17%	0%	14%
12+ years	14%	14%	14%	4%	14%
Location						0.0057
Colon	63%	65%	59%	84%	71%
Rectum	37%	35%	41%	16%	30%
Stage						0.0861
I	24%	8%	33%	36%	27%
II	32%	23%	35%	52%	46%
III	30%	32%	30%	8%	27%
IV	14%	36%	3%	4%	0%
Surgery	98%	98%	98%	92%	96%	0.1043
Adjuvant/neoadjuvant therapy						0.0095
No therapy	54%	41%	58%	80%	68%
Radiotherapy	2%	1%	3%	4%	5%
Chemotherapy	30%	42%	24%	16%	20%
Radio- and chemotherapy	14%	16%	15%	0%	7%
Colorectal cancer recurrence						0.6694
Yes	19%	41%	7%	8%	8%
No	80%	59%	93%	92%	81%
Missing	1%	0%	0%	0%	12%

Abbreviation: s.d.=standard deviation. Among the variables included in the analysis, the proportion of missing values was <5% except for burden of treatment (5%), stress (11%), and depression score (6%). In general, older survivors, female survivors, survivors without a partner, and survivors with stage I compared with stage III and IV were more reluctant to provide information on these items. Significant P-values (P<0.05) are highlighted in bold.

^aShort-questionnaire responders are counted as non-responders.