Table 1. Baseline characteristics of prostate cancer patients registered in the West of Scotland from 1991 to 2007.

	Period of diagnosis
	1991–1996		1997–2002		2003–2007
	All patients, n	%	All patients, n	%	All patients, n	%	P -value
Total registered cases	4534	29.2	5506	35.5	5479	35.3
Age at incidence
Age <65 years	683	15.1	1027	18.7	1286	23.5	<0.001
Age 65–74 years	1753	38.7	2106	38.3	2209	40.3
Age ⩾75 years	2098	46.3	2373	43.1	1984	36.2
Gleason grade
Gleason ⩽7	—	—	3033	55.1	3265	59.6	<0.001
Gleason 8–10	—	—	1556	28.3	1793	32.7
Unknown Gleason	—	—	917	16.7	421	7.7
Socio-economic circumstances
Affluent (Depcat 1, 2)	785	17.3	1028	18.7	1110	20.3	<0.001
Intermediate (Depcat 3, 4, 5)	2465	54.4	3052	55.4	3150	57.5
Deprived (Depcat 6, 7)	1284	28.3	1426	25.9	1219	22.3

Period of diagnosis was based on incidence date recorded in cancer registry; P-values calculated by χ²-test.