TABLE 3.

Access to Health Care, Health Status, and Medical Attitudes Among Patients Who Attended or Did Not Attend a Scheduled Appointment for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) Testing at a Midwestern Veterans Administration Medical Center: 2001–2003

	Nonattenders (n = 139)a	Attenders (n = 240)b	Pc
Access to health care
Insurance status, no. (%)
VA insurance only	84 (60.4)	120 (50.0)	.05
VA insurance plus additional coverage	55 (39.6)	120 (50.0)
Difficulty getting medical care, no. (%)
Extremely difficult	12 (8.6)	10 (4.2)	.001
Very difficult	9 (6.5)	7 (2.9)
Somewhat difficult	46 (33.1)	62 (25.8)
Not too difficult	32 (23.0)	62 (25.8)
Not at all difficult	40 (28.8)	99 (41.3)
Days waited for appointment, mean (SD)	136 (102)	54 (58)	<.001
Range	0–406	0–330
Health status
Overall health status, mean (SD)
Comorbidity scored	8.5 (9.4)	7.5 (7.4)	.26
SF-12 mental healthe	49.5 (17.5)	50.6 (17.3)	.59
SF-12 physical healthf	52.3 (27.2)	49.9 (27.1)	.39
CAD-specific health status
Number of CAD risk factorsg	3.9 (1.8)	4.0 (1.9)	.69
Number of CAD symptomsh	4.5 (3.2)	5.6 (3.0)	.002
Average symptom frequencyi	3.7 (2.5)	4.5 (2.4)	.002
Average symptom severityj	4.4 (3.0)	5.6 (3.2)	.001
Patient's belief that symptoms are related to heartk	3.5 (3.2)	5.62 (3.5)	.001
Medical attitudes
Trust in physician,l mean (SD)	67.1 (17.9)	70.6 (14.9)	.04
Coping style,m mean (SD)	–0.036 (0.94)	1.00 (2.6)	.001
Medical decisionmaking preference, no. (%)
Primarily the doctor	42 (30.4)	76 (32.3)	.94
Joint decision	50 (36.2)	75 (31.9)
Primarily the patient	46 (33.3)	84 (35.7)

Notes. VA = Veterans Administration; SF-12 = Short Form–12 survey.

^aSF-12 mental health, n = 135; SF-12 physical health, n = 136; trust in physician and medical decisionmaking preference, n = 138.

^bSF-12 mental health, n = 231; SF-12 physical health, n = 233; trust in physician and medical decisionmaking preference, n = 235.

^cFrom Kendall's τ-b for categorical variables; t test for continuous variables.

^dRange = 0–100; higher scores indicate more comorbidity.

^eRange = 0–100; higher scores indicate better mental health.

^fRange = 0–100; higher scores indicate better physical health.

^gRange = 0–8.

^hRange = 0–13.

ⁱRange = 0–7; higher scores indicate greater frequency.

^jRange = 0–10; higher scores indicate greater severity.

^kRange = 0–10; higher scores indicate greater belief that symptoms are heart-related.

^lRange = 0–100; higher scores indicate more trust.

^mMonitor–Blunter Style Scale range = −7 to 7; lower scores indicate a more avoidant coping style.