Background characteristics of participants
| Breath samples | Watery stool samples | |||||
| Cancer | Control | Cancer | Control | |||
| (n=33) | (n=132) | p Value | (n=37) | (n=148) | p Value | |
| Gender (male) | 15 | 64 | 0.75 | 16 | 86 | 0.10 |
| Age (years) | 71.0 (53–95) | 65.0 (25–91) | 0.001 | 70.2 (41–95) | 64.6 (25–91) | 0.035 |
| Complaint before colonoscopy | ||||||
| Abdominal pain or distention | 6 | 20 | 0.67 | 10 | 22 | 0.08 |
| Bloody faeces | 5 | 19 | 0.91 | 6 | 19 | 0.59 |
| Constipation | 6 | 24 | 1.0 | 7 | 24 | 0.69 |
| Diarrhoea | 3 | 8 | 0.53 | 4 | 14 | 0.95 |
| Body weight loss | 2 | 8 | 0.68 | 3 | 4 | 0.29 |
| Abdominal tumour | 2 | 1 | 0.19 | 2 | 1 | 0.19 |
| No complaint | 4 | 21 | 0.59 | 3 | 28 | 0.18 |
| Past history of colorectal disease | 1 | 20 | 0.11 | 2 | 22 | 0.13 |
| Anticoagulant therapy | 1 | 14 | 0.31 | 1 | 18 | 0.16 |
| Smoked within 2 weeks | 3 | 28 | 0.18 | 4 | 32 | 0.21 |