Table 2.

Odds ratios for demographic, life style and medical characteristics in colon cancer controls compared with population controls

	Colon cancer controls (N = 254)		Population controls (N = 320)		Crude OR	Adjusted OR2	95% CI2
	No.	%	No.	%
Educational status, low3	59	23	89	28	0.8	0.7	0.5–1.0
Living alone	43	17	77	24	0.7	0.6	0.4–0.9
Ever smokers	180	71	228	71	1.0	1.0	0.7–1.4
Heavy smokers4	70	28	88	28	1.0	0.9	0.7–1.3
Alcohol, high5	108	43	98	31	1.7	1.8	1.2–2.5
-Age 35–59	48		59		1.3	1.3	0.8–2.2
-Age 60–69	60		39		2.3	2.3	1.4–3.9
Obesity6	51	20	53	17	1.4	1.4	0.9–2.2
Asthma	15	6	28	9	0.7	0.6	0.3–1.2
Dermatitis	47	19	62	19	0.9	0.9	0.6–1.4

¹ Crude odds ratio (OR). ² OR with 95 % confidence interval (CI), adjusted for sex and age. If expected values were less than 5, Fishers exact test was used with stratification by year of birth (2 levels) and sex. ³ Left school at 15 y no further education. ⁴ More than 20 pack-years ('pack-years' = number of years as a smoker * number of cigarettes per day/20). ⁵ Total alcohol intake > 24 grams alcohol per day. ⁶ Obesity defined as maximum body mass index ever being ≥ 30.