TABLE 2.

Sample Characteristics of Veterans Who Used the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System and Veterans Who Did Not: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2004

	VA Users, %	VA Nonusers, %	P
Race/ethnicity			<.001
White	73.2	87.8
Hispanic	3.9	2.2
African American	22.9	10.0
Racial saliencea			.12
≤ 1/mo	79.6	83.5
1/wk	6.3	7.0
≥ 1/d	14.1	9.5
Gender			.85
Women	6.2	6.4
Men	93.8	93.6
Age, y			.02
18–24	2.6	1.6
25–34	4.7	7.8
35–44	10.3	13.8
45–54	23.4	18.4
55–64	30.9	24.8
≥ 65	28.2	33.6
Income, $			<.001
< 15 000	20.4	4.9
15 000–24 999	28.5	14.2
25 000–34 999	20.9	14.2
35 000–49 999	14.4	20.6
≥ 50 000	15.8	46.2
Education			<.001
< High school	11.6	5.7
High school graduate	36.1	30.4
Some college	33.3	27.9
College degree	19.0	36.1
Health care coverage			<.001
Yes	81.9	91.5
No	18.1	8.5
Cost of medical care prohibitive in past 12 mo			.04
No	88.0	91.4
Yes	12.0	8.6
Health status			<.001
Excellent, very good, or good	62.2	83.9
Fair or poor	37.8	16.1
State			<.001
Arkansas	18.2	11.8
Colorado	14.0	21.5
Delaware	3.5	4.4
District of Columbia	3.4	1.7
Mississippi	15.9	10.4
Rhode Island	4.2	4.5
South Carolina	26.8	21.3
Wisconsin	14.0	24.5

Note. Percentages were based on weighted data. For VA users, unweighted n = 362; weighted n = 140 672. For VA nonusers, unweighted n = 3 058; weighted n = 1 406 880.

^aDefined as frequency of thoughts about one's own race.