Table 1.
Characteristics of Black and White Medicare Beneficiaries Admitted for AMI or CABG at US Hospitals During 2009–2011
| Patient Characteristic | AMI | CABG | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White (N=307 813) | Black (N=35 561) | White (N=40 933) | Black (N=3055) | |
| Regiona | ||||
| Northeast | 25.6% | 17.8% | 20.2% | 14.2% |
| South | 39.7% | 48.5% | 46.5% | 56.5% |
| Midwest | 22.7% | 26.2% | 24.6% | 24.0% |
| West | 12.0% | 7.4% | 38.7% | 5.3% |
| Age group (y), %a | ||||
| 65–69 | 11.9 | 23.0 | 19.4 | 32.6 |
| 70–74 | 14.8 | 17.7 | 27.9 | 29.5 |
| 75–79 | 17.1 | 17.7 | 26.3 | 22.3 |
| 80–84 | 20.3 | 16.5 | 18.9 | 12.1 |
| 85+ | 35.9 | 25.2 | 6.7 | 3.2 |
| Female, %a | 52.0 | 60.3 | 30.7 | 46.8 |
| Comorbidity index,b mean (SD)a | 6.9 (8.1) | 8.3 (8.4) | 5.1 (7.1) | 5.9 (7.6) |
| High‐quality hospital is closest or second‐closest hospital, %c | 48.2 | 48.3 | 49.9 | 45.0 |
| Admitted to a high‐quality hospital, %a | 34.8 | 32.4 | 39.0 | 29.9 |
| Low‐quality hospital is closest or second‐closest hospital, %d | 27.0 | 24.1 | 23.1 | 24.6 |
| Admitted to a low‐quality hospital, % | 11.2 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 10.2 |
AMI indicates acute myocardial infarction; CABG indicates coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.
a
P<0.001 for all white‐black comparisons.
b
The comorbidity index represents a weighted summary of 30 prevalent comorbidities identified from secondary diagnoses present at hospital discharge. The index is calculated using a previously published methodology.17
c
P<0.001 for the CABG cohort only.
d
P<0.001 for the AMI cohort only.