Table 1.

Patient characteristics

	Surgical approach
	Laparoscopic		Open		Total		χ2
	N	%	N	%	N	%	p value
Sex
Male	2731	60.2	7627	64.4	10358	63.2	< 0.001
Female	1809	39.8	4211	35.6	6020	36.8
Age at diagnosis (years)
0–49	392	8.6	680	5.7	1072	6.5	< 0.001
50–59	1015	22.4	2164	18.3	3179	19.4
60–69	1319	29.1	3424	28.9	4743	29.0
70–79	1376	30.3	4067	34.4	5443	33.2
80+	438	9.6	1503	12.7	1941	11.9
Location rectum
Lower rectum	601	13.2	2076	17.5	2677	16.3	< 0.001
Middle rectum	1347	29.7	3863	32.6	5210	31.8
Upper rectum	1228	27.0	2969	25.1	4197	25.6
Unspecified	1364	30.0	2930	24.8	4294	26.2
Stage UICC
I	1692	37.3	3868	32.7	5560	33.9	< 0.001
II	1159	25.5	3589	30.3	4748	29.0
III	1689	37.2	4381	37.0	6070	37.1
Grading
G1/2	3661	80.6	9528	80.5	13189	80.5	< 0.001
G3/4	495	10.9	1617	13.7	2112	12.9
Unspecified	384	8.5	693	5.9	1077	6.6
Radio-/chemotherapy neoadjuvant
Yes	1724	38.0	4819	40.7	6543	39.9	< 0.001
No	2816	62.0	7019	59.3	9835	60.1
Total	4540	100.0	11838	100.0	16378	100.0