3. Survival analysis of prognostic factors in patients with distal GC after matching.

Predictors	Univariate analysis			Cox regression analysis
	HR (95% CI)	P		HR (95% CI)	P
GC, gastric cancer; LN, lymph node; HR, hazard ratio; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.
Time of surgery (year)		0.469
2006−2008vs. 2003−2005	1.246 (0.738−2.104)	0.410
2009−2011vs. 2003−2005	0.893 (0.504−1.583)	0.699
Sex (female vs. male)	1.113 (0.701−1.767)	0.649
Age (>65vs. ≤65) (year)	1.245 (0.765−2.026)	0.377
Tumor size (>4vs. ≤4) (cm)	1.940 (1.236−3.044)	0.004
Lauren type (diffuse vs. intestinal)	1.226 (0.699−2.153)	0.477
pT stage		0.002			0.011
pT3 vs. pT2	3.464 (0.718−16.717)	0.122		4.026 (0.786−20.613)	0.095
pT4a vs. pT2	3.158 (1.447−6.889)	0.004		2.791 (1.248−6.244)	0.012
pT4b vs. pT2	7.830 (1.586−38.662)	0.012		12.714 (2.462−65.664)	0.002
pN stage		<0.001			<0.001
pN1 vs. pN0	1.575 (0.883−2.812)	0.124		1.471 (0.808−2.679)	0.206
pN2 vs. pN0	1.811 (0.833−3.939)	0.134		2.164 (0.979−4.784)	0.057
pN3a vs. pN0	2.509 (1.370−4.595)	0.003		2.473 (1.316−4.646)	0.005
pN3b vs. pN0	8.080 (3.003−21.739)	<0.001		9.379 (3.332−26.395)	<0.001
D2-plus vs. D2 LN dissection	0.625 (0.400−0.977)	0.039		0.516 (0.323−0.825)	0.006