Table 1.
Patient Characteristics According to Physician Specialty and Board Certification Status
| Family Practice | Internal Medicine | Cardiology | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noncertified | Certified | Noncertified | Certified | Noncertified | Certified Internist | Certified Cardiologist | |
| N | 2,695 | 18,695 | 11,384 | 23,194 | 3,828 | 4,162 | 37,293 |
| Demographics | |||||||
| Age, y (SD) | 77.7 (7.7) | 77.5 (7.7) | 77.5 (7.6) | 77.3 (7.5) | 76.2 (7.3) | 76.2 (7.3) | 75.3 (6.9)* |
| Women (%) | 46.8 | 47.5 | 47.7 | 48.1 | 54.4 | 53.8 | 56.0 |
| Black race (%) | 7.4 | 5.2* | 7.6 | 5.8* | 6.4 | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| Other race (%) | 3.3 | 2.0* | 3.6 | 2.5* | 5.0 | 2.9 | 3.2* |
| Socioeconomic status | |||||||
| Median household income ($) | 26,172 | 27,299* | 29,970 | 30,206 | 30,427 | 31,199 | 32,408* |
| High school/college graduate (%) | 46.2 | 47.3* | 48.4 | 49.2* | 49.1 | 49.5 | 50.6* |
| History/admission | |||||||
| Killip class† (%) | |||||||
| I | 50.1 | 50.3 | 47.5 | 48.3 | 51.6 | 52.5 | 54.8* |
| II | 12.1 | 11.9 | 11.7 | 12.2 | 12.0 | 12.1 | 11.9 |
| III or IV | 37.8 | 37.8 | 40.8 | 39.5 | 36.4 | 35.4 | 33.2 |
| MI location | |||||||
| Anterior (%) | 46.8 | 45.4 | 47.0 | 45.5 | 46.8 | 47.8 | 46.5 |
| Inferior (%) | 44.2 | 42.8 | 43.9 | 44.3 | 48.3 | 48.3 | 50.8* |
| Other (%) | 26.9 | 29.3 | 28.3 | 28.6 | 25.1 | 24.1 | 22.7* |
| Clinical history and admission laboratory values | |||||||
| Past MI (%) | 26.4 | 27.1 | 27.8 | 29.0 | 33.1 | 33.1 | 32.0 |
| Smoker (%) | 14.9 | 14.4 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 13.6 | 15.4 |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 31.5 | 31.4 | 33.4 | 31.9 | 30.2 | 28.4 | 27.6* |
| Hypertension (%) | 61.0 | 60.3 | 64.0 | 63.9 | 61.8 | 61.1 | 59.9 |
| Stroke (%) | 16.0 | 15.6 | 15.9 | 15.5 | 13.3 | 13.4 | 11.6* |
| CABG (%) | 9.5 | 9.0 | 10.4 | 11.2 | 17.4 | 15.8 | 17.2 |
| ST elevation MI (%) | 26.3 | 26.9 | 27.1 | 27.3 | 29.5 | 30.4 | 34.4* |
| Albumin <3 g/dL (%) | 31.6 | 30.9 | 30.7 | 31.1 | 29.5 | 28.7 | 30.0 |
| Hematocrit <30% | 8.2 | 7.4 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 5.4 |
| BUN >40 mg/dL or | 12.4 | 12.9 | 14.3 | 13.1* | 11.5 | 10.7 | 9.3* |
| Creatinine >2.0 mg/dL (%) | |||||||
| Hospital characteristics | |||||||
| Cardiac catheterization available (%) | 41.3 | 44.4* | 55.2 | 56.4 | 67.4 | 66.2 | 77.4* |
| Angioplasty available (%) | 23.6 | 25.3 | 33.6 | 36.7* | 46.3 | 42.8 | 55.4* |
| Bypass surgery available (%) | 19.4 | 21.4 | 27.9 | 31.8* | 42.6 | 36.0 | 50.8* |
| Teaching (%) | 16.3 | 22.4* | 30.9 | 30.8 | 35.1 | 32.9 | 41.5* |
| COTH, major teaching (%) | 3.1 | 3.4 | 10.1 | 10.6 | 13.7 | 9.9 | 14.6* |
| Public (%) | 23.4 | 21.1 | 11.7 | 12.7 | 9.9 | 10.3 | 9.7 |
| Private for profit (%) | 14.3 | 9.0* | 11.0 | 9.5* | 12.6 | 12.1 | 10.0* |
| Private nonprofit (%) | 62.3 | 69.9* | 77.3 | 77.7 | 77.6 | 77.6 | 80.3* |
| Without contraindications for guideline-recommended therapies | |||||||
| During hospitalization | |||||||
| Aspirin (%) | 56.3 | 54.0 | 53.4 | 53.2 | 53.5 | 54.3 | 54.2 |
| β-blockers (%) | 34.3 | 35.2 | 32.0 | 33.9* | 36.9 | 37.8 | 41.4* |
| At discharge | |||||||
| Aspirin (%) | 31.3 | 31.7 | 32.3 | 32.4 | 33.9 | 33.4 | 34.1 |
| β-blockers (%) | 21.4 | 22.1 | 21.7 | 23.2* | 27.6 | 25.7 | 30.8* |
| Region | |||||||
| Northeast (%) | 13.5 | 17.0 | 30.4 | 24.3 | 25.5 | 28.2 | 23.7 |
| Midwest (%) | 30.0 | 30.8 | 23.5 | 23.3 | 21.3 | 19.0 | 19.3 |
| South (%) | 47.4 | 41.8 | 35.5 | 37.0 | 36.7 | 39.7 | 36.9 |
| West (%) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 10.6 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 13.1 | 20.0 |
*
P<0.001 for comparison of board-certified versus non-board-certified physicians within physician speciality.
†
Killip class measures severity of heart failure with MI.
BUN, blood urea nitrogen; CABG, coronary artery bypass graft surgery; COTH, Council of Teaching Hospitals; MI, myocardial infarction.