Table 2 Criteria applied to obtain final patient treatment pathways and diagnosis.

1. Treatment lines were determined by chemotherapy medicines grouped together if claimed over a single 3-month period.

2. Diagnosis was finalised based on the data captured and classification made by the medical scheme and was changed to late CRC if a biological medicine was used in either 1st or 2nd line treatment or more than two lines of therapy were followed by a biological medicine.

3. Each treatment line was colour-coded within the pathway for each patient and the treatment criteria were applied to finalize the number of treatment lines.

A change in treatment line occurred if:

• Oxaliplatin was switched to irinotecan or vice versa.

• A biological medicine was included or changed to another biological medicine.

No change in treatment line occurred if:

• A medicine was not prescribed for a certain number of cycles.

• 5-FU was switched to capecitabine or vice versa.

• An oxaliplatin/irinotecan-containing regimen was changed to 5-FU/capecitabine monotherapy.