Table 2.
Baseline characteristics
| Cancer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All patients n=838 | yes n=188 | no n=650 | p-value | |
| Age, mean (SD), years | 63.6 (13.5) | 68.9 (10.5) | 62.0 (13.8) | <0.001 |
| Gender, n (%), men | 395 (47) | 107 (57) | 288 (44) | 0.002 |
| Co-morbidity, n (%) | ||||
| 0 | 393 (47) | 12 (6) | 381 (58) | |
| 1 | 258 (31) | 111 (59) | 147 (23) | |
| ≥2 | 187 (22) | 65 (35) | 122 (19) | <0.001 |
| Duration of symptoms, weeks, median (IQR) | 12 (6–26) | 10 (4–20) | 12 (8–26) | <0.001 |
| Missing, n (%) | 168 (20) | 43 (23) | 123 (19) | |
| Exposures, n (%) | 158 (19) | 29 (15) | 129 (20) | 0.18 |
| Missing, n (%) | 5 (0.6) | 0 | 5 (1) | |
| Smoking, n (%) | ||||
| Never smoked | 368 (44) | 77 (41) | 291 (45) | |
| Former smoker | 221 (26) | 60 (32) | 161 (25) | |
| Smoker | 208 (25) | 39 (21) | 169 (26) | |
| Missing, n (%) | 41 (5) | 12 (6) | 29 (4) | 0.11 |
| Marital status, n (%) | ||||
| Married/co-inhabitant | 565 (67) | 120 (64) | 445 (68) | |
| Separated/divorced | 97 (12) | 30 (16) | 67 (10) | |
| Widow/widower | 92 (11) | 28 (15) | 64 (10) | |
| Unmarried/single | 80 (9) | 9 (5) | 71 (11) | |
| Missing, n (%) | 4 (0.5) | 1 (0.5) | 3 (0.5) | 0.005 |
| Education, n (%) | ||||
| Compulsory <12 years | 178 (21) | 31 (16) | 147 (23) | |
| Short <15 years/skilled worker | 285 (34) | 67 (36) | 218 (34) | |
| Medium academic/trade | 234 (28) | 57 (30) | 177 (27) | |
| Long academic/university level | 131 (16) | 32 (17) | 99 (15) | |
| Missing, n (%) | 10 (1) | 1 (0.5) | 9 (1) | 0.37 |
| Occupation, n (%) | ||||
| Employed | 289 (35) | 46 (25) | 243 (37) | |
| Retired/disability pay | 516 (62) | 139 (74) | 377 (58) | |
| Unemployed | 29 (3) | 3 (1) | 26 (4) | |
| Missing, n (%) | 4 (0.5) | 0 | 4 (9.6) | 0.001 |
| Cancer in family, n (%) | 162 (19) | 36 (19) | 126 (19) | |
| Missing, n (%) | 20 (2) | 4 (2) | 16 (2) | 0.96 |
| Previous cancer in patient, n (%) | 72 (9) | 0 | 72 (11) | |
| Missing, n (%) | 7 (1) | 0 | 7 (1) | <0.001 |
Categorical variables are described as counts (%), and continuous variables are described as the mean (SD) or medians with the 25 to 75th interquartile ranges (IRQ). Differences between patients diagnosed with cancer and patients not diagnosed were estimated using the Pearson χ2-test or Wilcoxon rank sum test, as appropriate
Significant results are highligthed in bold