Table 3. Univariate and multivariate cox regression analyses for overall survival in patients with ESCC in validation cohort.

Variables	Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
	HR (95%CI)	P value	HR (95%CI)	P value
Sex
Male vs. Female	0.79 (0.46–1.36)	0.394
Age
≥ 60 years vs. < 60 years	1.51 (0.98–2.48)	0.053
Histological grade		0.004*		0.025*
Well differentiated	Ref.		Ref.
Moderately differentiated	5.61 (0.77–41.21)	0.090	2.59 (0.34–19.81)	0.359
Poorly or not differentiated	9.87 (1.42–74.72)	0.021*	4.65 (0.61–35.35)	0.069
Tumor location		0.753
Upper	Ref.
Middle	1.00 (0.46–2.18)	0.997
Lower	0.70 (0.22–2.23)	0.551
Examined lymph nodes
≥ 15 vs. < 15	1.01 (0.63–1.61)	0.982
T stage		< 0.001*		0.005*
T1	Ref.		Ref.
T2	2.28 (1.05–4.93)	0.037*	2.20 (1.00–4.81)	0.049*
T3	4.08 (1.99–8.37)	< 0.001*	3.25 (1.56–6.75)	0.002*
ZFAS1
Low vs. High	2.20 (1.38–3.52)	0.001*	1.81 (1.13–2.91)	0.014*