TABLE 2.
Patient Characteristics and Hospitalization Outcomes Organized by the Three Emergent Intervention Pathways
| Characteristic | Full Training Cohort, n = 9,130 | Cardiac Intervention Pathway, n = 4,190 | General Intervention Pathway, n = 2,765 | Prolonged Intervention Pathway, n = 1,587 | Pairwise Pathway Comparisons, p (Cardiac to General Pathway Comparisons, General to Prolonged Pathway Comparisons, Cardiac to Prolonged Pathway Comparisons) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | |||||
| Age, yr, mean (se) | 65 (0.15) | 63.9 (0.25) | 66.7 (0.28) | 63.4 (0.38) | < 0.001, < 0.001, NS |
| Sex, % | |||||
| Female | 51.1 | 49.5 | 56.8 | 48.1 | < 0.001, < 0.001, NS |
| Male | 48.9 | 50.5 | 43.2 | 51.9 | |
| Race, % | |||||
| Asian or Pacific Islander | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 4.0 | |
| Black | 8.6 | 8.9 | 8.6 | 8.9 | |
| Hispanic | 6.1 | 6.5 | 5.3 | 6.7 | |
| Native American | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | |
| Othera | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 2.4 | |
| White | 79.6 | 78.8 | 81.5 | 76.9 | |
| Number of comorbid conditions, median (IQR) | 4.0 (3.0–5.0) | 4.0 (2.5–5.5) | 4.0 (3.0–5.0) | 4.0 (3.0–5.0) | < 0.001, <0.05, < 0.001 |
| Most frequent secondary diagnoses (% of admissions with diagnosis) | Obstructive chronic bronchitis (25.1), pneumonia (24.8), congestive heart failure (24.6) | Congestive heart failure (24.3), fluid and electrolyte disorders (22.3), pneumonia (22.1) | Obstructive chronic bronchitis (40.0), congestive heart failure (28.1), pneumonia (23.9) | Pneumonia (28.7), acute renal failure (26.7), aspiration pneumonitis (23.7) | |
| Hospitalization characteristics | |||||
| Total number of medical interventions received, median (IQR) | 3.0 (1.5–4.5) | 3.0 (2.0–4.0) | 1.0 (0.5–1.5) | 5.0 (3.0–7.0) | < 0.001, < 0.001, < 0.001 |
| Length of stay, d, median (IQR) | 7.0 (3.5–10.5) | 5.0 (2.5–7.5) | 5.0 (3.0–7.0) | 13.0 (7.5–18.5) | < 0.05, < 0.001, < 0.001 |
| Discharge disposition, % | < 0.001, < 0.001, < 0.001 | ||||
| Home | 47.7 | 53.8 | 59.9 | 26.7 | |
| Inpatient rehabilitation | 4.1 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 7.8 | |
| Skilled nursing facility | 22.1 | 19.0 | 24.4 | 23.8 | |
| Long-term acute care hospital | 5.4 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 13.0 | |
| Hospice | 3.7 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 | |
| Died | 17.0 | 17.9 | 6.9 | 24.6 | |
IQR = interquartile range, NS = no statistical difference.
a
Other, as designated in the Healthcare Cost Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases, represents other races not included in listed categories and missing or otherwise unavailable data.