Table 1. Demographic Information by Withdrawal of Life-supporting Treatment.
| Characteristic | No. (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| No withdrawal of LST | Withdrawal of LST | Total | |
| No. of persons included | 30 080 | 7869 | 37 949 |
| Age, y | |||
| Mean (SD) | 42.9 (18.8) | 57.6 (20.6) | 45.9 (20.1) |
| Median (Q1-Q3) | 40.0 (26.0-56.0) | 60.0 (42.0-76.0) | 44.0 (27.0-61.0) |
| Range | 18.0-89.0 | 18.0-89.0 | 18.0-89.0 |
| Age group, y | |||
| <30 | 9841 (32.7) | 1089 (13.8) | 10 930 (28.8) |
| 30-45 | 7640 (25.4) | 1139 (14.5) | 8779 (23.1) |
| 46-60 | 6719 (22.3) | 1809 (23.0) | 8528 (22.5) |
| 61-75 | 3834 (12.7) | 1848 (23.5) | 5682 (15.0) |
| >75 | 2046 (6.8) | 1984 (25.2) | 4030 (10.6) |
| Sex | |||
| Women | 7412 (24.6) | 2405 (30.6) | 9817 (25.9) |
| Men | 22 662 (75.4) | 5463 (69.4) | 28 125 (74.1) |
| Race | |||
| Black | 4209 (14.6) | 597 (7.9) | 4806 (13.2) |
| White | 20 695 (71.6) | 6169 (81.6) | 26 864 (73.7) |
| Other | 4003 (13.8) | 795 (10.5) | 4798 (13.2) |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Hispanic or Latino | 3580 (13.3) | 593 (8.4) | 4173 (12.3) |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 23 384 (86.7) | 6506 (91.6) | 29 890 (87.7) |
| Paymenta | |||
| Medicaid | 4611 (16.2) | 698 (9.2) | 5309 (14.7) |
| Medicare | 4315 (15.1) | 2857 (37.9) | 7172 (19.9) |
| Private/commercial insurance | 11 769 (41.2) | 2326 (30.8) | 14 095 (39.1) |
| Self-pay | 5479 (19.2) | 1201 (15.9) | 6680 (18.5) |
| Other | 2370 (8.3) | 465 (6.2) | 2835 (7.9) |
| Teaching status of hospital | |||
| Community | 9978 (33.2) | 2777 (35.3) | 12 755 (33.6) |
| Nonteaching | 1921 (6.4) | 608 (7.7) | 2529 (6.7) |
| University | 18 181 (60.4) | 4484 (57.0) | 22 665 (59.7) |
| No. of neurosurgeons | |||
| 0-2 | 2109 (7.0) | 470 (6.0) | 2579 (6.8) |
| 3-5 | 13 576 (45.1) | 3523 (44.8) | 17 099 (45.1) |
| ≥6 | 14 395 (47.9) | 3876 (49.3) | 18 271 (48.1) |
Abbreviations: LST, life-supporting treatment; Q1, first quartile; Q3, third quartile.
a
Payment: other government, not billed (for any reason), and other payments that are not specified are defined as other. No-fault automobile, workers compensation, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are captured as private/commercial insurance.