Table 1.

Key characteristics of hospitalized acute stroke patients, by health maintenance organization (HMO) or fee-for-service (FFS) (N=9,003)^*

Characteristic	HMO (N=4,816)	FFS (N=4,187)	p-value	Characteristic	HMO (N=4,816)	FFS (N=4,187)	p-value
Sociodemographic	Prior medical history
Age (mean in years)	77 (7)	80 (7)	<.0001	Prior stroke	7	7	0.229
Female	57	63	<.0001	Cardiac arrhythmias	32	40	<.0001
Caucasian	76	83	<.0001	Congestive heart failure	18	25	<.0001
African-American	19	12	<.0001	Chronic pulmonary disease	16	20	<.0001
Other	5	5	0.802	Diabetes, uncomplicated	28	23	<.0001
Medicaid	12	19	<.0001	Diabetes, complicated	5	9	<.0001
% in block group below the poverty line (mean)	0.14 (0.13)	0.12 (0.11)	<.0001	Hypertension	72	74	0.010
% adults >=25 years in block group with college degree (mean)	0.2 (0.15)	0.24 (0.17)	<.0001	Fluid and electrolyte disorders	17	25	<.0001
Disease severity				Valvular disease	12	17	<.0001
Mechanical ventilation	4	4	0.159	Peripheral vascular disorders	9	16	<.0001
Gastrostomy tube	7	7	0.768	Hypothyroidism	9	13	<.0001
Hemiplegia or hemiparesis	27	27	0.934	Solid tumor without metastasis	10	12	0.001
Residual neurological deficits	17	19	0.010	Deficiency anemias**	11	15	<.0001
Year of index hospital admission				Depression	6	10	<.0001
1998	25	25	0.714	Dementia	18	23	<.0001
1999	35	36	0.244	Concurrent cardiac event	2	2	0.285
2000	40	39	0.143

^*Values represent percents unless specified otherwise. Parentheses indicate standard deviations.

^**Includes anemias due to a nutritional deficiency (e.g., iron, vitamin B12, folate, protein, etc.)