BACKGROUND: This study investigated adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) use after esophagectomy without induction therapy for node-positive (pN+) adenocarcinoma using the National Cancer Database, including the impact of complications related to surgery (CRS) on outcomes. METHODS: Predictors of AC use in 1694 patients in the National Cancer Data Base who underwent R0 esophagectomy from 2003-2011 without induction therapy for pN+ adenocarcinoma of the middle or lower esophagus and survived more than 30 days were identified with multivariable logistic regression. The impact of AC on survival was estimated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox-proportional hazards methods. RESULTS: AC was given to 874 of 1694 (51.6%) patients; 618 (70.7%) AC patients received radiation. Older age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.58/decade, p < 0.001), longer travel distance (AOR 0.78 per 100 miles, p = 0.03) and CRS (AOR 0.45, p < 0.001) predicted that AC was not used. Patients given AC had better 5-year survival than patients not given AC (24.2% versus 14.9%, p < 0.001), and AC use predicted improved survival in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio 0.67, p = 0.008). Receiving radiation in addition to AC did not improve survival (p = 0.35). Although CRS was associated with worse survival, patients who had CRS but received AC had superior survival compared to patients who did not have CRS or get AC (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: AC after esophagectomy is associated with improved survival but was only used in half of patients with pN+ esophageal adenocarcinoma. We also found that the addition of radiation to AC was not associated with a survival benefit. CRS predict worse long-term survival and lower the chance of getting AC, but even patients with CRS had improved survival when given AC.