Table 2.

Stroke Hospitalization Rates: Comparison of Persistently High-Rate Counties With Persistently Low-Rate Counties, Counties That Transitioned out of a High-Rate Cluster, and Counties That Transitioned Into a High-Rate Cluster, Medicare Beneficiaries, ≥65 Years

	Persistent Counties			Transitional Counties
	Column A	Column B		Column C		Column D
	Persistently High-Rate Cluster*	Persistently Low-Rate Cluster†		Transitioned out of High-Rate Cluster‡		Transitioned Into High-Rate Cluster§
	Value	Value	P Value||	Value	P Value||	Value	P Value||
Number of counties	435	533		148		243
Mean age-adjusted stroke hospitalization rate per 1000, 1995–1996	23.69	13.08	<0.001	23.17	0.177	19.70	<0.001
Mean age-adjusted stroke hospitalization rate per 1000, 2005–2006	18.09	9.41	<0.001	15.23	<0.001	17.48	0.011
Economic resources
Median household income, 2005,¶ $	32 475	40 698	<0.001	36 057	<0.001	35 019	<0.001
Median household income, 1995,¶ $	25 760	31 311	<0.001	28 835	<0.001	27 027	0.016
Population in poverty, 2005,¶ %	21.1	12.9	<0.001	18.9	<0.001	19.0	<0.001
Population without a high school diploma, 2000,# %	30.5	17.2	<0.001	28.9	0.116	28.1	<0.001
Counties in persistent poverty, 2004,** %	35.2	4.7	<0.001	27.0	0.069	25.1	0.007
Health care
Short-term general hospitals per 100 000 population, 2005,¶ n	3.9	8.0	<0.001	3.5	0.243	3.4	0.003
Short-term hospital beds per 100 000 population, 2005,¶ n	301.7	367.1	0.392	261.1	0.032	235.5	<0.001
Short-term hospital admissions per 100 000 population, 2005,¶ n	10 146	7009	<0.001	8274	0.020	8480	0.050
Emergency room visits per 100 000 population, 2005,¶ n	43 836	31 754	<0.001	39 317	0.150	38 624	0.037
Office-based general practice MDs per 100 000 population, 2005,¶ n	23.3	36.4	<0.001	24.2	0.420	22.7	0.513
Office-based general practice MDs per 100 000 population, 1995,¶ n	22.6	31.9	<0.001	22.7	0.976	21.1	0.071
Urban/rural, 2003††
Large metro, %	8.1	5.1	<0.001	18.9	0.002	11.1	0.283
Small metro/micro, %	47.8	39.2		37.8		49.4
Noncore adjacent, %	39.8	37.2		39.9		33.7
Noncore nonadjacent, %	4.4	18.6		3.4		5.8
Migration
Population growth, 1995–2005, %	5.3	7.5	0.141	16.3	<0.001	11.6	<0.001
Retirement destinations, 2004,‡‡ %	6.7	15.6	<0.001	21.6	<0.001	14.8	<0.001

^*Counties located in a cluster of low rates in both 1995–1996 and 2005–2006.

^†Counties located in a cluster of high rates in both 1995–1996 and 2005–2006.

^‡Counties located in a cluster of high rates in 1995–1996 but not in 2005–2006.

^§Counties not located in a cluster of rates in 1995–1996 but located in a cluster of high rates in 2005–2006.

^||Results of a statistical comparison between values in this column and values among counties located in persistently high-rate cluster (Column A).

^¶Data from the Area Resource File (ARF).

^#US Census data from the ARF.

^**US Department of Agriculture (USDA) County Typology Codes from the ARF. Twenty percent or more of residents in poverty as measured in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000.

^††USDA Urban Influence Codes from the ARF.

^‡‡USDA County Typology Codes from the ARF. Counties in which the number of residents 60 years or older grew by 15% or more during 1990–2000.