Table 1.
Explanatory variables used in the multivariate analysis
| VARIABLE | DEFINITION |
| Patient-related clinical indicators | |
| FEMALE | Dummy variable taking the value '1' for female patients |
| AGEGRP0-AGEGRP5 | One dummy variable for each age group (where AGEGRP0 includes patients aged 65–69 and AGEGRP5 patients older than 90) |
| YR93-YR98 | One dummy variable for each year |
| DIST_CATH | Distance from the patient's area geographical center to the area geographical center of the nearest hospital offering cardiac CATH. |
| DIST_CARD | Distance from the patient's area geographical center to the area geographical center of the nearest hospital offering CABG or PCI. |
| COCHF | Congestive heart failure |
| CARD | Cardiac dysrhythmias |
| PULED | Pulmonary edema |
| SHOCK | Shock |
| CRF | Chronic renal failure |
| ARF | Acute renal failure |
| DIABET | Diabetes |
| MAL | Malignancy |
| CERVAS | Cerebrovascular disease |
| Area-based socioeconomic indicators | |
| INC | Median family income in ZIP code area of residence. |
| INC_Q1 | The patient's area belongs to the lowest median income quintile in country X |
| INC_Q2 | The patient's area belongs to the 2nd median income quintile in country X |
| INC_Q3 | The patient's area belongs to the 3rd median income quintile in country X |
| INC_Q4 | The patient's area belongs to the 4th median income quintile in country X |
| INC_Q5 | The patient's area belongs to the highest median income quintile in country X |