BACKGROUND: The objective of this analysis was to determine the factors associated with early onset treatment-related toxicity in patients treated with capecitabine-based anticancer regimens in daily clinical care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 1463 patients previously included in a prospective cohort study and treated with standard-of-care capecitabine-based anticancer regimens (monotherapy or combined with other chemotherapy or radiotherapy) were analysed. Logistic regression models were developed to investigate associations between patient- and treatment-related factors and occurrence of early--i.e. cycle one or two--severe (grade ≥ 3) treatment-related toxicity, toxicity-related hospitalisation, and toxicity-related treatment discontinuation. Performance of models was evaluated using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves and internal validity was explored using bootstrap analysis. RESULTS: Among 1463 patients included, 231 patients (16%) experienced early severe toxicity, 132 patients (9%) were hospitalised for toxicity, and 146 patients (10%) discontinued treatment for toxicity; in total, 321 patients (22%) experienced any early toxicity-related adverse outcome. Predictors of early grade ≥ 3 toxicity, after adjustment for treatment regimen, were renal function (odds ratio [OR] 0.85 per 10 ml/min/1.73 m(2), p = 0.0007), body surface area (BSA) (OR 0.33 per m(2), p = 0.0053), age (OR 1.14 per decade, p = 0.0891), and elevated pre-treatment uracil concentrations (OR 2.41 per 10 ng/ml, p = 0.0046). Age was significantly associated with fatal treatment-related toxicity (OR 5.75, p = 0.0008). Area under the ROC curve (AUC) of a model to predict early grade ≥ 3 toxicity was 0.704 (95% confidence interval 0.666-0.743, optimism-corrected AUC 0.690). CONCLUSION: Renal function, BSA, and age, in addition to pre-treatment uracil, are associated with clinically relevant differences in risk of early severe toxicity in patients treated with capecitabine in routine clinical care.