Table 1.
Demographic characteristics, comorbidity status, disease response and unmet information needs of participants by cancer type
| Characteristic | Total | Breast | Colorectal | Melanoma | Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | Prostate | p value | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | ||
| Total | 2115 | 459 | 21.7 | 444 | 21.0 | 476 | 22.5 | 234 | 11.1 | 502 | 23.7 | ||
| Years post diagnosis | |||||||||||||
| 1 year | 759 | 35.9% | 158 | 34.4 | 158 | 35.6 | 205 | 43.1 | 80 | 34.2 | 158 | 31.5 | 0.004 |
| 3 years | 637 | 30.1% | 161 | 35.1 | 147 | 33.1 | 133 | 27.9 | 48 | 20.5 | 148 | 29.5 | 0.001 |
| 5 years | 719 | 34.0% | 140 | 30.5 | 139 | 31.3 | 138 | 29.0 | 106 | 45.3 | 196 | 39.0 | 0.000 |
| Sex | |||||||||||||
| Male | 1123 | 53.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 245 | 55.2 | 237 | 49.8 | 139 | 59.4 | 502 | 100.0 | 0.000 |
| Female | 992 | 46.9 | 459 | 100.0 | 199 | 44.8 | 239 | 50.2 | 95 | 40.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.000 |
| Age | |||||||||||||
| < 50 years | 297 | 14.0% | 89 | 19.4 | 54 | 12.2 | 106 | 22.3 | 31 | 13.2 | 17 | 3.4 | 0.000 |
| 50–59 years | 466 | 22.0% | 133 | 29.0 | 81 | 18.2 | 109 | 22.9 | 50 | 21.4 | 93 | 18.5 | 0.000 |
| 60–69 years | 723 | 34.2% | 143 | 31.2 | 142 | 32.0 | 138 | 29.0 | 72 | 30.8 | 228 | 45.4 | 0.000 |
| 70–79 years | 452 | 21.4% | 70 | 15.3 | 112 | 25.2 | 80 | 16.8 | 60 | 25.6 | 130 | 25.9 | 0.000 |
| 80 + years | 177 | 8.4% | 24 | 5.2 | 55 | 12.4 | 43 | 9.0 | 21 | 9.0 | 34 | 6.8 | 0.002 |
| Country of birth | |||||||||||||
| Australia | 1561 | 78.8% | 336 | 78.5 | 298 | 72.7 | 401 | 87.7 | 164 | 76.3 | 362 | 76.9 | 0.000 |
| Other | 420 | 21.2% | 92 | 21.5 | 112 | 27.3 | 56 | 12.3 | 51 | 23.7 | 109 | 23.1 | 0.000 |
| Remoteness index | |||||||||||||
| Major city | 1429 | 67.6% | 295 | 64.3 | 289 | 65.1 | 314 | 66.0 | 174 | 74.4 | 357 | 71.1 | 0.018 |
| Inner regional | 572 | 27.0% | 138 | 30.1 | 127 | 28.6 | 139 | 29.2 | 49 | 20.9 | 119 | 23.7 | 0.026 |
| Outer regional/remote | 114 | 5.4% | 26 | 5.7 | 28 | 6.3 | 23 | 4.8 | 11 | 4.7 | 26 | 5.2 | 0.853 |
| Response to treatment | |||||||||||||
| Responded fully to treatment | 1627 | 81.2% | 358 | 82.1 | 344 | 81.5 | 411 | 89.3 | 167 | 77.3 | 347 | 74.0 | 0.000 |
| Treated but still present | 161 | 8.0% | 17 | 3.9 | 30 | 7.1 | 16 | 3.5 | 30 | 13.9 | 68 | 14.5 | 0.000 |
| Not treated | 43 | 2.1% | 5 | 1.1 | 7 | 1.7 | 3 | 0.7 | 8 | 3.7 | 20 | 4.3 | 0.001 |
| Not certain | 172 | 8.6% | 56 | 12.8 | 41 | 9.7 | 30 | 6.5 | 11 | 5.1 | 34 | 7.2 | 0.001 |
| Information needs | |||||||||||||
| No needs | 1247 | 59.0% | 240 | 52.3 | 248 | 55.9 | 324 | 68.1 | 126 | 53.8 | 309 | 61.6 | 0.000 |
| Low needs (1-3) | 596 | 28.2% | 135 | 29.4 | 129 | 29.1 | 127 | 26.7 | 76 | 32.5 | 129 | 25.7 | 0.319 |
| High needs (4 +) | 272 | 12.9% | 84 | 18.3 | 67 | 15.1 | 25 | 5.3 | 32 | 13.7 | 64 | 12.7 | 0.000 |
| Index of relative socio-economic disadvantage | |||||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | 2111 | 6.53 (2.81) | 458 | 6.57 (2.79) | 444 | 6.37 (2.88) | 628 | 6.66 (2.74) | 295 | 6.37 (2.82) | 688 | 6.58 (2.83) | 0.519 |
| Number of longstanding comorbidities | |||||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | 2115 | 1.20 (1.29) | 459 | 1.05 (1.17) | 444 | 1.29 (1.40) | 476 | 0.98 (1.19) | 234 | 1.42 (1.37) | 502 | 1.36 (1.29) | 0.000 |
p values are from tests of equal proportions for categorical variables and from an analysis of variance for continuous variables