Table 1 Characteristics of the population

Characteristic		APE		AR		Hartmann’s		Other		Total
Characteristic		n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Year of diagnosis	1998	1443	30.5	2622	55.4	405	8.6	260	5.5	4730	15.1
	1999	1407	30.1	2567	54.8	440	9.4	267	5.7	4681	15.0
	2000	1277	27.9	2608	57.0	434	9.5	258	5.6	4577	14.7
	2001	1172	27.0	2522	58.2	393	9.1	250	5.8	4337	13.9
	2002	1158	26.3	2565	58.2	386	8.8	298	6.8	4407	14.1
	2003	1128	25.5	2618	59.2	371	8.4	304	6.9	4421	14.2
	2004	938	23.0	2487	61.1	386	9.5	259	6.4	4070	13.0
Dukes’ stage	A	1411	27.4	3159	61.3	236	4.6	350	6.8	5156	16.5
	B	1883	24.9	4572	60.5	662	8.8	444	5.9	7561	24.2
	C	2488	26.5	5478	58.4	890	9.5	532	5.7	9388	30.1
	D	238	20.4	630	54.0	218	18.7	81	6.9	1167	3.7
	Unknown	2503	31.5	4150	52.2	809	10.2	489	6.2	7951	25.5
Age (years)	⩽60	2151	28.5	4406	58.4	466	6.2	521	6.9	7544	24.2
	61–70	2655	27.9	5618	59.0	698	7.3	547	5.7	9518	30.5
	71–80	2773	26.8	5937	57.4	1037	10.0	594	5.7	10341	33.1
	>80	944	24.7	2028	53.1	614	16.1	234	6.1	3820	12.2
IMD income quintile	Most affluent	1457	24.1	3782	62.4	455	7.5	363	6.0	6057	19.4
	2	1741	25.7	4029	59.5	583	8.6	421	6.2	6774	21.7
	3	1806	27.4	3796	57.6	584	8.9	399	6.1	6585	21.1
	4	1799	29.0	3450	55.5	565	9.1	399	6.4	6213	19.9
	Most deprived	1679	30.9	2835	52.2	610	11.2	310	5.7	5434	17.4
	Unknown	41	25.6	97	60.6	18	11.3	4	2.5	160	0.5
Gender	Males	5613	28.5	11160	56.6	1779	9.0	1173	5.9	19725	63.2
Gender	Females	2910	25.3	6829	59.4	1036	9.0	723	6.3	11498	36.8
Admission method	Elective	8226	28.0	17282	58.8	2194	7.5	1698	5.8	29400	94.2
Admission method	Emergency	297	16.3	707	38.8	621	34.1	198	10.9	1823	5.8
Total		8523	27.3	17989	57.6	2815	9.0	1896	6.1	31223	100.0

APE, abdominoperineal excision; AR, anterior resection, IMD, Index of Multiple Deprivation.