Table 1.
Characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries who underwent elective AAA repair (n = 2481), by procedure type.
| Characteristic | EVAR (n = 1502) | Open (n = 979) | P |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD) | 76.6 (6.0) | 75.5 (5.6) | <0.001 |
| Female, n (%) | 314 (20.9) | 280 (28.6) | <0.001 |
| Race, n (%) | 0.95 | ||
| White | 1418 (94.4) | 922 (94.2) | |
| Black | 50 (3.3) | 33 (3.4) | |
| Other | 34 (2.3) | 24 (2.5) | |
| Reason for Medicare entitlement, n (%) | 0.21 | ||
| Age | 1346 (89.6) | 879 (89.8) | |
| Disability | 156 (10.4) | 98 (10.0) | |
| End-stage renal disease | 0 | † (0.2) | |
| Medicaid enrollment, n (%) | 114 (7.6) | 79 (8.1) | 0.66 |
| Charlson comorbidity score, mean (SD) | 2.88 (1.55) | 2.61 (1.39) | <0.001 |
| Patient area of residence, n (%) | 0.37 | ||
| Urban | 917 (61.1) | 570 (58.2) | |
| Suburban | 141 (9.4) | 115 (11.8) | |
| Large town | 219 (14.6) | 143 (14.6) | |
| Small town or rural | 218 (14.5) | 145 (14.8) | |
| Missing | † (0.5) | † (0.6) | |
| Underwent procedure at high volume hospital, n (%) | 704 (46.9) | 398 (40.7) | 0.002 |
| Had in-hospital complication, n (%) | |||
| Any complication | 315 (21.0) | 399 (40.8) | <0.001 |
| Respiratory | 59 (3.9) | 184 (18.8) | <0.001 |
| Hemorrhage/Shock | 104 (6.9) | 136 (13.9) | <0.001 |
| Vascular/Device | 95 (6.3) | 65 (6.6) | 0.76 |
| Cardiac | 42 (2.8) | 67 (6.8) | <0.001 |
| Wound | † (0.5) | 21 (2.2) | <0.001 |
| Renal/Urologic | 40 (2.7) | 32 (3.3) | 0.34 |
| Neurologic | 35 (2.3) | 32 (2.2) | 0.14 |
| Reoperation (Non Vascular) | † (0.2) | 17 (1.7) | <0.001 |
| Venous Thromboembolism | 0 | 11 (1.2) | <0.001 |
| Length of stay, mean (SD) | 3.4 (4.2) | 9.4 (7.4) | <0.001 |
| Discharge destination, n (%) | <0.001 | ||
| Home | 1214 (80.8) | 540 (55.2) | |
| Home with home care | 171 (11.4) | 210 (21.5) | |
| Skilled nursing facility | 79 (5.3) | 144 (14.7) | |
| Other facility | 38 (2.5) | 85 (8.7) | |
| 30-day readmission, n (%) | 200 (13.3) | 125 (12.8) | 0.69 |
| 30-day mortality*, n (%) | 11 (0.7) | † (0.5) | 0.50 |
| One-year mortality*, n (%) | 106 (7.1) | 67 (6.8) | 0.84 |
SD denotes standard deviation; %, column percentage; HCC, Hierarchical Condition Categories.
*
Patients who died during the index stay were excluded.
†
Exact cell size suppressed per data use agreement to protect patient confidentiality as n < 11.