Table 1. Diagnosis of colon or rectal cancer following EP by patients' socio-demographic characteristics (univariable analysis).

	Colon cancer				Rectal cancer
	Non-EPa	EP	Total		Non-EPa	EP	Total
	N=668	N=361	N=1029		N=490	N=87	N=577
	%	%	N	P-valueb	%	%	N	P-valueb
Gender
Men	67.8	32.2	537	0.044	87.5	12.5	336	0.041
Women	61.8	38.2	492		81.3	18.7	241
Age (years)
25–59	67.8	32.2	152	0.041	92.8	7.2	97	0.003
60–69	68.6	31.4	204		85.0	15.0	133
70–79	69.6	30.4	362		86.6	13.4	216
80+	55.6	44.4	311		76.3	23.7	131
Socio-economic deprivation quintile
1 (least deprived)	67.2	32.8	268	0.159	90.9	9.1	143	<0.001
2	63.0	37.0	211		86.4	13.6	125
3	69.3	30.7	228		87.2	12.8	125
4	63.4	36.6	205		81.1	18.9	111
5 (most deprived)	57.3	42.7	117		72.6	27.4	73
Geographic region
North	66.0	34.0	235	0.780	80.1	19.9	151	0.170
Midlands/East England	62.5	37.5	307		85.3	14.7	177
London	66.2	33.8	71		82.5	17.5	40
South	65.9	34.1	416		88.5	11.5	209

Abbreviation: EP=emergency presentation.

^aNon-emergency routes included non-urgent GP referrals (colon cancer: 36% rectal cancer: 45%), ‘two-week wait' GP referrals (colon cancer: 10% rectal cancer: 21%) and elective in-/out-patients (20% for both cancers). Screening accounted only for 0.2% of rectal cancers, as the programme started in 2006.

^bχ²-Test was used for gender and region. Test for trend was used for age and socio-economic deprivation.