Table 1.

Characteristics of patient visits, 1999–2010

	% (unadjusted N = 148,509)*
Age (mean, SD)	75.4 ± 7.2
Female sex	58%
Race
White	88%
Black	8%
Other race	4%
Hispanic ethnicity †	7%
National region
Northeast	21%
Central	22%
South	37%
West	21%
Chronic conditions †
Arthritis	24%
Depression	8%
Chronic renal failure	4%
Congestive heart failure	5%
Reason for visit
Musculoskeletal complaint	17%
Other reasons	83%
Chronicity of problem that is main reason for visit
Acute or new problem	26%
Chronic problem	53%
Other (e.g., health maintenance)	21%
Specialty of treating clinician †
Primary care	45%
Surgical	26%
Medical specialty	30%
Community vs. hospital based clinic
Community-based clinic	94%
Hospital outpatient department	6%

^*All results adjusted for weights and survey design to produce nationally representative estimates

^†Data on Hispanic ethnicity from 2003–2010; data on chronic conditions from 2005–10. Data on clinician specialty available only for clinicians in community-based outpatient practice.

Patient, clinician, and clinic characteristics were similar across the study period with the exception of national region (proportion of visits in South 32% in 1999–2000 vs. 39% in 2009–10; proportion of visits in Northeast 23% vs. 18%, respectively) and clinician specialty (primary care 47% vs. 42% in 1999–2000 and 2009–10; surgical specialty 27% vs. 25%, and medical specialty 25% vs. 33%, respectively).

Some categories do not add to 100% due to rounding.