Table 1

Characteristics of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases diagnosed between August 2004 and December 2007 that had colonoscopy and surgery, and characteristics associated with consulting a GP between colonoscopy and surgery (N=407)

		GP consult
Category	n	n	Per cent	Adjusted OR*	95% CI*	p Value†
Sex						0.79
Woman	152	64	42	1.10	0.56 to 2.15
Man	255	111	44	1.00	(ref)
Age						0.77
<60	78	28	36	1.38	0.58 to 3.30
60–69	108	42	39	1.13	0.57 to 2.28
70–79	150	75	50	1.00	(ref)
80+	71	30	42	1.50	0.62 to 3.65
Country of birth						0.09
Australia	320	141	44	1.00	(ref)
Other	81	30	37	0.50	0.22 to 1.12
Unknown	6	4	67	Not incl.	Not incl.
Language spoken at home						0.41
English	377	163	43	1.00	(ref)
Non-English	30	12	40	0.59	0.17 to 2.06
Place of residence at diagnosis						0.62
Metropolitan	186	75	40	1.00	(ref)
Other urban	103	45	44	0.63	0.24 to 1.62
Rural	118	55	47	1.65	0.58 to 4.69
Type of housing						0.93
House	296	130	44	1.00	(ref)
Flat/unit	50	19	38	1.17	0.46 to 2.93
House on farm	28	12	43	1.22	0.40 to 3.66
Elderly accommodation	26	11	42	0.79	0.24 to 2.58
Other/unspecified	7	3	43	Not incl.	Not incl.
Socioeconomic status						0.27
Least disadvantaged quintile	143	54	38	1.00	(ref)
Quintile 2	64	28	44	1.65	0.58 to 4.69
Quintile 3	126	55	44	1.17	0.43 to 3.21
Quintile 4	58	28	48	2.40	0.87 to 6.60
Most disadvantaged quintile	16	10	63	3.18	0.63 to 16.01
Highest education level attained						0.27
No school certificate/other	48	22	46	1.20	0.47 to 3.09
School/intermediate certificate	102	41	40	1.00	(ref)
Higher school/leaving certificate	28	12	43	1.49	0.47 to 4.67
Trade/apprenticeship	56	21	38	1.01	0.40 to 2.55
Certificate/diploma	83	36	43	1.47	0.63 to 3.43
University degree or higher	80	37	46	2.94	1.19 to 7.26
Unspecified	10	6	60	Not incl.	Not incl.
Marital status						0.08
Married/living as married	288	120	42	1.00	(ref)
Single/divorced/separated	51	28	55	2.65	1.11 to 6.30
Widowed	65	26	40	1.03	0.44 to 2.39
Unspecified	3	1	33	Not incl.	Not incl.
Income level						0.11
<$20K p.a.	112	51	46	1.00	(ref)
$20K–<$40K p.a.	83	45	54	1.79	0.76 to 4.25
$40K–<$70K p.a.	62	22	35	0.68	0.26 to 1.75
$70K+ p.a.	52	15	29	0.56	0.19 to 1.68
Unspecified	98	42	43	0.74	0.33 to 1.67
Health insurance						0.19
Private with extras	190	83	44	1.00	(ref)
Private no extras	70	26	37	0.45	0.21 to 0.97
DVA/healthcare card	101	46	46	1.20	0.55 to 2.62
None of these	37	16	43	0.67	0.24 to 1.85
Missing	9	4	44	1.24	0.24 to 6.47
BMI‡						0.21
Underweight/normal (<25 kg/m²)	155	59	38	1.00	(ref)
Overweight (25–≤30 kg/m²)	157	69	44	1.56	0.83 to 2.93
Obese/morbidly obese (≥30 kg/m²)	66	31	47	1.30	0.58 to 2.94
Null/not specified	29	16	55	2.93	0.98 to 8.74
Smoking status						0.05
Never smoker	203	80	39	1.00	(ref)
Ever smoker	204	95	47	1.81	1.01 to 3.26
Self-reported health status						0.002
Good–excellent	307	115	37	1.00	(ref)
Fair/poor	78	47	60	2.76	1.30 to 5.82
Unspecified	22	13	59	5.60	1.59 to 19.81
Cardiovascular disease						0.11
Yes	47	26	55	2.09	0.85 to 5.13
No	360	149	41	1.00	(ref)
COPD						0.04
Yes	29	10	34	0.30	0.09 to 0.95
No	378	165	44	1.00	(ref)
Diabetes						0.001
Yes	50	33	66	5.15	2.02 to 13.16
No	357	142	40	1.00	(ref)
Other key comorbidities						0.88
Yes	56	26	46	0.94	0.40 to 2.18
No	351	149	42	1.00	(ref)
Family history of CRC						0.51
Yes	75	37	49	1.27	0.63 to 2.57
No	332	138	42	1.00	(ref)
Disease stage						0.08
Localised	185	73	39	1.00	(ref)
Regional	176	76	43	1.66	0.91 to 3.02
Distant metastases	27	13	48	1.57	0.47 to 5.19
Unknown	19	13	68	5.05	1.35 to 18.91
Cancer site						0.52
Colon	265	114	43	1.00	(ref)
Rectum	142	61	43	1.21	0.68 to 2.18
Year of diagnosis						0.64
2004	43	17	40	1.24	0.46 to 3.36
2005	113	43	38	0.93	0.44 to 1.93
2006	111	56	50	1.46	0.72 to 2.95
2007	140	59	42	1.00	(ref)
Timing of CRC diagnosis relative to the 45 and Up Study questionnaire						0.01
Before (prevalent)	327	131	40	0.35	0.16 to 0.75
After (incident)	80	44	55	1.00	(ref)
Specialist consultation between colonoscopy and surgery						<0.0001
Yes	285	156	55	17.64	7.71 to 40.34
No	122	19	16	1.00	(ref)

*Adjusted for all other variables in this table.
†Overall p value from a multivariable logistic regression.
‡Calculated from self-reported weight (kg)/height (m)².
BMI, body mass index; CRC, colorectal cancer; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DVA, Department of Veterans’ Affairs; GP, general practitioner; Not incl.: this category was not included in logistic regression (n=26 overall); Ref: reference category.