Table 2. Correlation between clinical parameters and the infiltrating density of CD68⁺ macrophages in esophageal cancer tissues.

Clinical parameters	Cases	CD68+ macrophages in Tumor Nest					CD68+ macrophages in Tumor Stroma
		Low		High		P-value	Low		High		P-value
		n	%	n	%		n	%	n	%
Gender
Male	102	50	49.02	52	50.98	0.919	71	69.61	31	30.39	0.540
Female	36	18	50.00	18	50.00		27	75	9	25.00
Age (years)
< 60	73	37	50.68	36	49.32	0.726	22	30.14	51	69.86	0.752
≥ 60	65	31	47.69	34	52.31		18	27.69	47	72.31
Tumor size (cm)
≤ 3.5	56	30	53.57	26	46.43	0.404	17	41.46	39	95.12	0.769
>3.5	82	38	46.34	44	53.66		23	23.71	59	60.82
Tumor (T) statusa
pT1	6	1	16.67	5	83.33	0.900	1	16.67	5	83.33	0.509
pT2	65	34	52.31	31	47.69		19	29.23	46	70.77
pT3	54	28	51.85	26	48.15		15	27.78	39	72.22
pT4	13	5	38.46	8	61.54		5	38.46	8	61.54
Nodal (N) statusb
N0	84	46	54.76	38	45.24	0.108	27	32.14	57	67.86	0.308
N1	54	22	40.74	32	59.26		13	24.07	41	75.93
TNM stage
II	101	50	49.50	51	50.50	0.929	29	28.71	72	71.29	0.907
III	37	18	48.65	19	51.35		11	29.73	26	70.27
Total	138

^a,bThe same description as in Table 1.