CRP and cancer: When C-reactive protein was excluded from the multivariate analysis, stratified by stage, only Ki-67 labelling index (HR 1.56, 95% CI 0.99–2.45, P=0.045) and adjuvant therapy (HR 0.41, 95% CI 0.19–0.86, P=0.019) were independently associated with poorer cancer-specific survival.