TABLE 1—

Sociodemographic Characteristics of Sample (N = 730 149)

Mean age in 1998, y	62.6
Race/ethnicity (from self-reported data), %
White	79.7
African American	13.2
Hispanic	5.2
Asian	0.6
Native American	1.1
Pacific Islander	0.2
Education, % with less than high school	26.1
Married, %	62
Employed, %	27.4
Live alone, %	23.1
Concerned about food sufficiency, %	13.7
No. of inpatient stays in past 3 years, mean (SD)	0.51 (1.34)
No. of outpatient visits in past years, mean (SD)	28.0 (43.0) 3
General health status (GH1), mean (SD)	3.5 (1.01)

Note. GH1 = Response to General Health question 1 from the Veterans SF-3615 (“In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair or poor?”).