TABLE 1—

Baseline Characteristics of the Study Sample (n=3039050): Nationwide Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, 2002

	Patients Who Left Hospital Against Medical Advice	Patients Who Were Formally Discharged	P
Total, No.	43 678	2 995 372
Age, y, mean ± SD	47 ± 16	61 ± 20	<.001
Male gender, %	62.8	44.7	<.001
Median income of patient’s home zip code, %			<.001
< $25 000	2.34	97.66
$25 000–$34 999	1.6	98.4
$35 000–$44 999	1.43	98.57
≥ $45 000	1.2	98.8
Primary health insurance, %			<.001
Private	1.07	98.93
Medicaid	3.42	96.58
Medicare	0.75	99.25
No chargea	3.12	96.88
Other	1.98	98.02
Self-pay	4.49	95.51
Race/ethnicity, %			<.001
White	1.28	98.72
African American	2.35	97.65
Hispanic	1.7	98.3
Other	1.76	98.24
Unknown	1.2	98.8
Hospital type			<.001
Nonteaching	1.37	98.63
Teaching	1.53	98.47
Location, %			<.001
Rural	1.02	98.98
Urban, nonteaching hospital	1.48	98.52
Urban, teaching hospital	1.55	98.45
Hospital size,b %			<.001
Small	1.23	98.77
Medium	1.7	98.3
Large	1.37	98.63
Length of hospital stay, days, mean ± SD	2.9 ± 5	5.1 ± 6	<.001
No. of diagnoses, mean ± SD	5.4 ± 3	6.5 ± 3	<.001
No. of procedures, mean ± SD	0.7 ± 1	1.3 ± 2	<.001
Total hospital charge, $, mean ± SD	11 400 ± 18 739	18 740 ± 30 733	<.001

^aThese patients were not billed for their medical visit as of the date of collection of these data.

^bCategorized by number of beds.