Table 1. Patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer in two European countries between 1997 and 2004 (N=40 613).

	Calvados(N=2481)		Côte d'Or(N=2329)		Saone et Loire(N=3081)		England (NYCRIS)(N=32722)
Variables	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	P-values
Sex									0.402
Men	1359	54.8	1300	55.8	1683	54.6	18 176	55.5
Women	1122	45.2	1029	44.2	1398	45.4	14 546	44.5
Age									0.001
<61	523	21.1	482	20.7	508	16.5	5865	17.9
61–69	475	19.1	452	19.4	672	21.8	7200	22.0
70–79	712	28.7	641	27.5	893	29.0	9418	28.8
⩾79	771	31.1	754	32.4	1008	32.7	10 239	31.3
Topography									<0.001
Right colon	765	30.8	740	31.8	1024	33.2	8881	27.1
Left colon	715	28.8	717	30.8	923	30.0	7917	24.2
Unknown colona	65	2.6	18	0.8	7	0.2	2879	8.8
Rectosigmoid junction	235	9.5	355	15.2	326	10.6	3269	10.0
Rectum	701	28.3	499	21.4	801	26.0	9776	29.9
Duke's stage									<0.001
A	390	15.7	409	17.6	567	18.4	3724	11.4
B	676	27.2	713	30.6	872	28.3	8567	26.2
C	592	23.9	477	20.5	657	21.3	7686	23.5
‘D'	644	26.0	543	23.3	743	24.1	7234	22.1
Unstaged	179	7.2	187	8.0	242	7.9	5511	16.8
Year of diagnosis									0.007
1997	287	11.6	267	11.5	393	12.8	3782	11.6
1998	305	12.3	258	11.1	389	12.6	4079	12.5
1999	300	12.1	287	12.3	351	11.4	4143	12.7
2000	308	12.4	280	12.0	418	13.6	4185	12.8
2001	304	12.3	267	11.5	374	12.1	4069	12.4
2002	299	12.1	296	12.7	356	11.6	4191	12.8
2003	345	13.9	324	13.9	416	13.5	4096	12.5
2004	333	13.4	350	15.0	384	12.5	4177	12.8
Surgical resection within 6 months since diagnosis									<0.001
Yes	2065	83.2	1944	83.5	2592	84.1	23 908	73.1
No	416	16.8	385	16.5	489	15.9	8814	26.9
Chemotherapy									<0.001
Yes	905	36.5	751	32.2	1069	34.7	8542	26.1
No	1559	62.8	1564	67.2	1982	64.3	24 180	73.9
Unknown	17	0.7	14	0.6	30	1.0	0	0.0
Radiotherapy									<0.001
Yes	375	15.1	374	16.1	586	19.0	4027	12.3
No	2095	84.4	1943	83.4	2467	80.1	28 695	87.7
Unknown	11	0.4	12	0.5	28	0.9	0	0.0

Abbreviation: NYCRIS=Northern and Yorkshire Cancer Registry Information Service.

^aIncluding C18.8.