Table 2.
Characteristics of VA users receiving echocardiographs between 1999 and 2007 by rural category
| Urban (%) |
Rural (%) |
Highly Rural (%) |
P Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n= 896,382 (69.2) |
n= 285,066 (22.0) |
n= 114,210 (8.8) |
||
| Age, mean (SD), y | 66.6 (12.2) | 66.7 (11.4) | 67.3 (10.9) | < .001 |
| Sex (%) | < .001 | |||
| Male | 95.6 | 96.6 | 97.2 | |
| Female | 4.4 | 3.4 | 2.8 | |
| Race (%) | < .001 | |||
| White | 59.4 | 73.6 | 76.5 | |
| Black | 17.2 | 6.2 | 3.9 | |
| Othera | 23.4 | 20.2 | 19.6 | |
| Comorbid Conditions (%) | ||||
| Congestive Heart Failure | 30.6 | 29.4 | 29.3 | < .001 |
| Valvular Heart Disease | 22.2 | 20.8 | 22.7 | < .001 |
| Cerebrovascular Disease | 16.5 | 16.5 | 16.5 | .90 |
| Hypertension | 77.9 | 77.6 | 77.4 | < .001 |
| Diabetes | 35.8 | 35.4 | 34.6 | < .001 |
| Cardiac Arrhythmias | 32.0 | 32.0 | 33.5 | < .001 |
| Myocardial Infarction | 10.8 | 11.0 | 11.1 | < .001 |
| COPD | 30.8 | 34.1 | 34.8 | < .001 |
| Mean number of Comorbid Conditions, mean (SD) | 4.8 (2.8) | 4.6 (2.7) | 4.5 (2.7) | < .001 |
| Distance to nearest Medical Center, median (IQR), miles | 11.4 (20.7) | 46.7 (40.1) | 54.0 (38.4) | < .001 |
a
Other race includes Hispanics, other nonwhite and missing race.