Table 1.
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of cases by period of diagnosis
| Characteristic | Number (%) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Years | Period of Diagnosis |
||||
| (1997–2008) | 1997–2000 | 2001–2004 | 2005–2008 | Pa | |
| Deaths/Cases | 1618/1645 | 516/518 | 582/586 | 520/541 | |
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 1598 (97) | 500 (97) | 568 (97) | 530 (98) | .34 |
| Female | 47 (3) | 18 (3) | 18 (3) | 11 (2) | |
| Age at diagnosis, y | |||||
| 25–54 | 323 (20) | 133 (26) | 122 (21) | 68 (13) | <.0001 |
| 55–64 | 548 (33) | 133 (26) | 198 (34) | 217 (40) | |
| 65–74 | 441 (27) | 155 (30) | 135 (23) | 151 (28) | |
| 75+ | 333 (20) | 97 (19) | 131 (22) | 105 (19) | |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 1368 (83) | 437 (84) | 477 (81) | 454 (84) | .29 |
| Hispanic White | 73 (4) | 25 (5) | 20 (3) | 28 (5) | |
| Black | 165 (10) | 50 (10) | 68 (12) | 47 (9) | |
| Other/unknown | 39 (2) | 6 (1) | 21 (4) | 12 (2) | |
| Marital status | |||||
| Married | 900 (55) | 280 (54) | 311 (53) | 309 (57) | .71 |
| Single | 175 (11) | 61 (12) | 59 (10) | 55 (10) | |
| Divorced/separated | 452 (27) | 143 (28) | 171 (29) | 138 (26) | |
| Widowed | 112 (7) | 32 (6) | 43 (7) | 37 (7) | |
| Unknown | 6 (0.4) | 2 (0.4) | 2 (0.3) | 2 (0.4) | |
| Geographic regionb | |||||
| Northeast | 185 (11) | 53 (10) | 68 (12) | 64 (12) | .18 |
| Midwest | 349 (21) | 110 (21) | 139 (24) | 100 (18) | |
| South | 706 (43) | 217 (42) | 255 (44) | 234 (43) | |
| West | 405 (25) | 138 (27) | 124 (21) | 143 (26) | |
| Income | |||||
| $0 | 195 (12) | 68 (13) | 71 (12) | 56 (10) | .24 |
| Q1 (median $6288) | 332 (20) | 117 (23) | 122 (21) | 93 (17) | |
| Q2 (median $14 595) | 331 (20) | 106 (20) | 124 (21) | 101 (19) | |
| Q3 (median $27 245) | 332 (20) | 107 (21) | 116 (20) | 109 (20) | |
| Q4 (median $47 472) | 332 (20) | 90 (17) | 117 (20) | 125 (23) | |
| Unknown | 123 (7) | 30 (6) | 36 (6) | 57 (11) | |
| Primary payer | |||||
| VA | 1351 (82) | 455 (88) | 476 (81) | 420 (78) | <.0001 |
| Other | 294 (18) | 63 (12) | 110 (19) | 121 (22) | |
| Diagnosis/treatment facilityc | |||||
| Reporting/reporting | 1070 (65) | 345 (67) | 391 (67) | 334 (62) | <.0001 |
| Reporting/elsewhere | 93 (6) | 20 (4) | 29 (5) | 44 (8) | |
| Elsewhere/reporting | 413 (25) | 103 (20) | 147 (25) | 163 (30) | |
| Elsewhere/elsewhere | 69 (4) | 50 (10) | 19 (3) | 0 | |
| Service-connected disability | |||||
| 0% | 1108 (67) | 346 (67) | 404 (69) | 358 (66) | .013 |
| 10%–40% | 224 (14) | 65 (13) | 82 (14) | 77 (14) | |
| 50%–100% | 206 (13) | 45 (9) | 70 (12) | 91 (17) | |
| Unknown | 107 (7) | 62 (12) | 30 (5) | 15 (3) | |
| Charlson comorbidity score | |||||
| 0 | 735 (45) | 261 (50) | 251 (43) | 223 (41) | .0006 |
| ≥1 | 832 (51) | 223 (43) | 305 (52) | 304 (56) | |
| Unknown | 78 (5) | 34 (7) | 30 (5) | 14 (3) | |
aChi-square test (with unknowns excluded) comparing the proportions of demographic and clinical characteristics across the 3 periods of diagnosis.
bBased on geographic location of the VISN of the reporting VHA medical center.
cIndicates whether diagnosis and first course of treatment occurred at the reporting VHA medical center (reporting) vs another facility (elsewhere).