Table 2.

Association between rurality, travel times to the GP, alarm symptoms, and primary outcomes

Explanatory variables	1) Alarm symptoms OR (95% CI)	2) Emergency admission OR (95% CI)	3) Dukes’ stages OR (95% CI)	4) Death within 3 years HR (95% CI)
	Outcome variables without interaction terms
a) Travel time to GP	0.98 (0.84 to 1.14)	0.91 (0.75 to 1.09)	0.91 (0.78 to 1.07)	0.81^a (0.72 to 0.92)
b) Rural	1.08 (0.80 to 1.46)	0.83 (0.58 to 1.18)	0.99 (0.72 to 1.34)	0.71^a (0.57 to 0.88)
c) Alarm symptoms	N/A	0.36^b (0.25 to 0.53)	0.85 (0.64 to 1.14)	1.15 (0.94 to 1.41)

	Outcome variables with interaction terms fitted
d) Travel time to GP	1.34 (0.98 to 1.82)	0.62^b (0.39 to 0.97)	0.94 (0.68 to 1.29)	0.75^b (0.59 to 0.96)
Rural	1.62^b (1.05 to 2.48)	0.61 (0.36 to 1.02)	1.11 (0.72 to 1.70)	0.69^b (0.51 to 0.94)
Travel time/rurality interaction	0.62^b (0.43 to 0.90)	1.69^b (1.02 to 2.79)	0.95 (0.65 to 1.38)	1.18 (0.88 to 1.57)
Alarm symptoms	N/A	0.37^a (0.26 to 0.54)	0.84 (0.63 to 1.12)	1.17 (0.95 to 1.43)
Age, years	1.00 (0.98 to 1.01)	1.02^b (1.00 to 1.03)	0.97^a (0.96 to 0.99)	1.03^a (1.02 to 1.04)
Female	0.95 (0.72 to 1.23)	0.89 (0.63 to 1.24)	0.76 (0.57 to 1.01)	0.74^a (0.60 to 0.90)
Index of deprivation (Carstairs)	0.99 (0.94 to 1.04)	0.99 (0.93 to 1.05)	1.05 (0.99 to 1.11)	1.02 (0.99 to 1.06)
0 comorbidities (Charlson score) (reference)	1	1	1	1
1–2 comorbidities (Charlson)	0.53^a (0.39 to 0.71)	4.87^a (3.27 to 7.26)	0.87 (0.63 to 1.19)	1.20 (0.95 to 1.50)
>3 comorbidities (Charlson)	0.29^a (0.20 to 0.44)	7.26^a (4.63 to 11.39)	1.44 (0.97 to 2.14)	2.53^a (1.98 to 3.25)

↵a P<0.01.
↵b P<0.05. Travel time is the predictor in ‘a’, rurality is the predictor in ‘b’, and alarm symptoms is the predictor in ‘c’. Travel times are interacted with rurality in ‘d’. All models are adjusted for age, sex, deprivation, and comorbidity. For brevity, the coefficients for the covariates are only shown in the models with the interaction term (d). HR = hazard ratio. N/A = not applicable. OR = odds ratio.