Comparing the effectiveness of capecitabine versus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin therapy for elderly Taiwanese stage III colorectal cancer patients based on quality-of-life measures (QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR38) and a new cost assessment tool

Table 1 Characteristics of stage III CRC in elderly patients

Variable		Capecitabine group		5-FU/LV group		P value
Variable		n	%	n	%	P value
n		93	75.61	30	24.39
Age (mean, SD) ^a		(77.47, 4.53)		(75.27, 4.35)		0.021
Gender ^b
	Male	46	49.46	24	80.00	0.005
	Female	47	50.54	6	20.00
Education ^b
	No more than junior high school	83	90.22	18	62.07	0.002
	Senior high school	6	6.52	7	24.14
	University or above	3	3.26	4	13.79
Marital status ^b
	Married or cohabiting	70	81.40	25	83.33	1.000
	Other	16	18.60	5	16.67
Employment status ^b
	Unemployed	90	96.77	26	89.66	0.1453
	Employed	3	3.23	3	10.34
Tumor site ^b
	Colon	77	82.80	19	63.33	0.784
	Rectum	16	17.20	11	36.67
Family history of cancer ^b
	No	75	82.42	23	79.31	0.040
	Yes	16	17.58	6	20.69
Comorbidity ^b
	None	27	29.67	10	33.33	0.820
	Hypertension	37	40.66	10	33.33	0.524
	CAD	8	8.79	3	10.00	1.000
	CVA	9	9.89	-	-	0.110
	Renal insufficiency	6	6.59	2	6.67	1.000
	DM	18	19.78	6	20.00	1.000
	COPD	3	3.30	1	3.33	1.000
	Liver cirrhosis	5	5.49	-	-	0.331
	Other comorbidity	27	29.67	8	26.67	0.820
Oxaliplatin administered ^b
	No	82	88.17	10	33.33	< 0.0001
	Yes	11	11.83	20	66.67

Abbreviations: CAD coronary artery disease, CVA cardiovascular disease, DM diabetes mellitus, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
^a Student t-test was used to calculate the statistical significance at the 5 % level
^b Pearson chi-square test was used to calculated the significance at the 5 % level

ISSN: 1477-7525