Table 2.
Patient, disease and treatment characteristics of the study population (N = 170)
| Characteristic | N (%) a |
|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | |
| Gender | |
| Female | 65 (38.2%) |
| Male | 105 (61.8%) |
| Age at treatment commencement (years [st.dev.]) | 63.3 [13.4] |
| Birthplace | |
| Australia | 72 (42.4%) |
| Elsewhere | 96 (56.5%) |
| Unknown | 2 (1.2%) |
| Marital status | |
| Married | 85 (50.0%) |
| Widowed, divorced/separated, never married | 61 (35.9%) |
| Not specified/unknown | 3 (1.8%) |
| Not reported | 21 (12.4%) |
| Number of children | |
| Yes | 104 (61.2%) |
| No | 18 (10.6%) |
| Not reported | 48 (28.2%) |
| Religious affiliation | |
| Religious | 88 (51.8%) |
| Not religious | 28 (16.5%) |
| Not specified/unknown/not reported | 54 (31.8%) |
| Health insurance | |
| Only public health insurance | 110 (64.7%) |
| At least public health insuranceb | 14 (8.2%) |
| No private health insurance | 14 (8.2%) |
| Public and private health insurance | 8 (4.7%) |
| Private health insurance | 5 (2.9%) |
| Not known/not otherwise stated | 2 (1.2%) |
| Not reported | 17 (10%) |
| Comorbidities | |
| None | 44 (25.9%) |
| 1 | 43 (25.3%) |
| 2–3 | 45 (26.5%) |
| 4+ | 19 (11.2%) |
| Not reported | 19 (11.2%) |
| Distance required to travel to hospital | |
| 0–5 | 83 (48.8%) |
| 5–10 | 52 (30.6%) |
| 10–40 | 19 (11.2%) |
| >40 | 16 (9.4%) |
| Average (km [st.dev]) | 38.71 [114.72] |
| Disease and treatment characteristics | |
| Year of diagnosis | |
| 2000–2009 | 27 (15.9%) |
| 2010–2011 | 77 (45.3%) |
| 2012–2013 | 66 (38.8%) |
| Diagnosis | |
| C18.0 (caecum) | 19 (11.2%) |
| C18.2 (ascending colon) | 15 (8.8%) |
| C18.3 (hepatic flexure) | 2 (1.2%) |
| C18.4 (transverse colon) | 5 (2.9%) |
| C18.5 (splenic flexure) | 3 (1.8%) |
| C18.6 (descending colon) | 7 (4.1%) |
| C18.7 (sigmoid colon) | 36 (21.2%) |
| C18.8 (overlapping sites of colon) | 0 (0.0%) |
| C18.9 (colon, unspecified) | 1 (0.6%) |
| C19 (rectosigmoid junction) | 12 (7.1%) |
| C20 (rectum) | 70 (41.2%) |
| Tumor stage at diagnosis | |
| I | 5 (2.9%) |
| II | 33 (19.4%) |
| III | 72 (42.4%) |
| IV | 58 (34.1%) |
| No tumor | 1 (0.6%) |
| Unknown | 1 (0.6%) |
| Tumor stage at treatment commencement | |
| I | 0 (0%) |
| II | 29 (17.1%) |
| III | 67 (39.4%) |
| IV | 74 (43.5%) |
| Time from diagnosis to treatment (months [SD]) | 7.63 [19.52] |
| Treatment decision | |
| Physician | 46 (27.1%) |
| One option discussed | 37 (21.8%) |
| Physician recommended | 18 (10.6%) |
| Patient | 41 (24.1%) |
| Ambiguous | 17 (10.0%) |
| Not reported | 11 (6.5%) |
SD standard deviation
aNumbers represent the number of patients, unless otherwise specified
bEquals ‘public’ (insurance) in the medical record, while for publicly but non-privately insured this was explicitly noted as ‘public, not private’