Table 1.

Characteristics of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) according to length of hospital stay (Worcester Heart Attack Study).

	Length of Hospital Stay, days
Characteristic	<3 (n=428)	3–4.9 (n=1429)	5–6.9 (n=1131)	7–9.9 (n=713)	≥10 (n=483)	P-value
Age, years, %
<65	43.9	37.9	27.6	20.1	21.3
65–74	18.7	20.2	22.6	24.3	26.7
75–84	20.3	24.3	28.7	35.3	36.2
≥85	17.1	17.6	21.0	20.3	15.7	<0.001
Men(%)	61.7	59.7	53.9	46.8	47.0	<0.001
Payer(%)
Private payment	1.9	1.8	2.0	1.3	2.3
Private insurance	2.6	3.6	2.6	2.8	2.5
Blue Cross	9.6	6.4	4.7	3.7	5.2
Medicaide	4.0	3.1	2.6	2.5	4.0
Medicare	36.8	39.6	51.4	57.6	60.0
HMO	38.9	38.8	31.1	28.4	22.8
Other	6.3	6.7	5.6	3.7	3.1	<0.001
Medical history(%)
Hypertension	68.2	65.4	66.8	69.4	72.6	0.04
Diabetes	36.6	29.9	30.4	35.9	40.3	<0.001
Stroke	7.7	8.6	8.6	11.4	12.7	0.01
Heart failure	23.6	20.0	24.0	31.4	31.3	<0.001
Angina	21.7	20.0	23.3	26.5	21.3	0.01
AMI associated characteristics(%)
Initial	61.7	66.4	62.6	59.9	64.0	0.04
Q Wave	14.2	24.6	26.2	23.3	27.1	<0.001
Anterior	12.9	15.0	18.9	22.4	19.1	<0.001
STEMI	30.8	33.4	29.4	26.1	27.5	0.005
Do not resuscitate order (%)	17.3	18.9	19.9	24.1	26.7	<0.001
Complications during hospitalization (%)
Cardiogenic shock	0.7	0.7	1.1	2.5	11.2	<0.001
Heart failure	22.2	25.8	36.3	48.4	65.0	<0.001
Recurrent angina	12.2	17.2	24.3	23.7	32.8	<0.001
Stroke	0.2	0.7	0.8	2.7	4.2	<0.001
Atrial fibrillation	11.5	11.9	14.0	19.4	28.6	<0.001
Therapies(%)
Aspirin	94.6	93.9	93.8	92.8	92.1	0.48
ACE inhibitors	58.9	58.8	52.7	56.7	66.1	<0.001
B-blockers	90.6	89.0	86.9	86.4	82.0	<0.001
Calcium antagonists	26.4	22.1	29.4	30.1	36.9	<0.001
Lipid lowering agents	62.2	56.4	42.3	39.0	38.1	<0.001
Thrombolitics	2.3	10.0	14.2	12.9	9.5	<0.001
Procedures during hospitalization(%)
Cardiac catheterization	55.6	47.6	40.4	44.9	50.2	<0.001
PTCA	43.7	35.9	25.2	27.7	30.3	<0.001