Table 1. Clinical and laboratory characteristics associated with overall survival.

	No. of patients	Overall survival (months), mean (95% CI)	P -value a
Sex
Male	1157	90.0 (87.0–93.0)	0.185
Female	553	96.2 (91.9–100.5)
Age (years)
<65	885	98.1 (94.7–101.4)	<0.001
⩾65	813	85.9 (82.1–89.8)
Body mass index (kg m−2)
<18.5	261	61.4 (55.8–67.0)	<0.001
18.5–25	1138	96.1 (93.0–99.2)
⩾25	233	96.1 (91.4–100.9)
Tumour location
Upper third	460	79.2 (74.6–83.8)	<0.001
Middle third	772	100.5 (96.9–104.2)
Lower third	470	88.2 (83.1–93.3)
White cell count ( × 109 l−1)
<11	1682	93.3 (90.7–96.0)	0.156
⩾11	27	60.4 (48.7–72.2)
Neutrophils ( × 109 l−1)
<7.5	1605	94.0 (91.4–96.7)	<0.001
⩾7.5	50	59.2 (46.1–72.3)
Lymphocytes ( × 109 l−1)
<3	1592	92.9 (90.2–95.6)	0.208
⩾3	63	95.0 (85.4–104.6)
CEA (ng ml−1)
⩽5	1433	95.4 (92.7–98.1)	<0.001
>5	233	55.9 (49.9–61.8)
CA19-9 (ng ml−1)
⩽37	1406	94.1 (91.4–96.8)	<0.001
>37	151	48.5 (40.4–56.5)
CRP (mg l−1)
⩽10	1565	95.8 (93.2–98.5)	<0.001
>10	145	51.4 (44.5–58.2)
Albumin (g l−1)
<35	162	38.8 (33.0–44.5)	<0.001
⩾35	1548	97.8 (95.2–100.4)
Tumour stage (pTNM)
I	997	113.5 (111.0–116.0)	<0.001
II	200	82.6 (77.2–87.9)
III	245	68.1 (62.0–74.1)
IV	268	28.7 (23.9–33.5)
mGPS
0	1565	95.8 (93.2–98.5)	<0.001
1	78	62.2 (53.4–71.1)
2	67	35.9 (27.0–44.8)

Abbreviations: CEA=carcinoembryonic antigen; CRP=C-reactive protein; mGPS=modified Glasgow prognostic score; pTNM=pathological tumour-node-metastasis staging.

^aKaplan–Meier survival analysis.