Table 1.
Baseline Patient Cohort Characteristics Stratified by Physician Specialty
| Description | Total | Physician Specialty | P Value | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrophysiologist | Interventional Cardiologist | General Cardiologist | Thoracic Surgeon | Other Specialist | |||||||||
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | ||
| All | 107966 | 100 | 74 505 | 100 | 6219 | 100 | 20 795 | 100 | 1790 | 100 | 4657 | 100 | |
| Admission characteristics | 69.0 | 5.8 | 19.3 | 1.7 | 4.3 | ||||||||
| Age, mean (SD) | 75.1 | 6.3 | 75.03 | 6.2 | 74.98 | 6.4 | 75.11 | 6.3 | 75.94 | 6.5 | 75.12 | 6.2 | <0.001 |
| Female | 29 420 | 27.2 | 20 342 | 27.3 | 1658 | 26.7 | 5668 | 27.3 | 496 | 27.7 | 1256 | 27.0 | 0.814 |
| Race | |||||||||||||
| White | 95 587 | 88.5 | 65 902 | 88.5 | 5557 | 89.4 | 18 550 | 89.2 | 1615 | 90.2 | 3963 | 85.1 | <0.001 |
| Black | 8196 | 7.6 | 5864 | 7.9 | 382 | 6.1 | 1499 | 7.2 | 74 | 4.1 | 377 | 8.1 | |
| Other | 4183 | 3.9 | 2739 | 3.7 | 280 | 4.5 | 746 | 3.6 | 101 | 5.6 | 317 | 6.8 | |
| History and risk factors | |||||||||||||
| Family history sudden death | 3753 | 3.5 | 2655 | 3.6 | 150 | 2.4 | 685 | 3.3 | 56 | 3.1 | 207 | 4.4 | <0.001 |
| Congestive heart failure | 87 018 | 80.6 | 60 446 | 81.1 | 4919 | 79.1 | 16 584 | 79.7 | 1400 | 78.2 | 3669 | 78.8 | <0.001 |
| NYHA class—current status | <0.001 | ||||||||||||
| Class I | 10 685 | 9.9 | 7502 | 10.1 | 558 | 9.0 | 1988 | 9.6 | 188 | 10.5 | 449 | 9.6 | |
| Class II | 35 639 | 33.0 | 24 943 | 33.5 | 1899 | 30.5 | 6838 | 32.9 | 534 | 29.8 | 1425 | 30.6 | |
| Class III | 57 125 | 52.9 | 39 347 | 52.8 | 3381 | 54.4 | 10 921 | 52.5 | 908 | 50.7 | 2568 | 55.1 | |
| Class IV | 4517 | 4.2 | 2713 | 3.6 | 381 | 6.1 | 1048 | 5.0 | 160 | 8.9 | 215 | 4.6 | |
| Cardiac arrest | <0.001 | ||||||||||||
| No arrest | 99 580 | 92.2 | 68 579 | 92.0 | 5800 | 93.3 | 19 248 | 92.6 | 1658 | 92.6 | 4295 | 92.2 | |
| Brady arrest | 1100 | 1.0 | 739 | 1.0 | 72 | 1.2 | 217 | 1.0 | 25 | 1.4 | 47 | 1.0 | |
| Tachy arrest | 7286 | 6.7 | 5187 | 7.0 | 347 | 5.6 | 1330 | 6.4 | 107 | 6.0 | 315 | 6.8 | |
| Atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter | 42 788 | 39.6 | 29 732 | 39.9 | 2275 | 36.6 | 8154 | 39.2 | 728 | 40.7 | 1899 | 40.8 | <0.001 |
| Ventricular tachycardia | |||||||||||||
| No | 70 640 | 65.4 | 48 231 | 64.7 | 4421 | 71.1 | 13 992 | 67.3 | 1218 | 68.0 | 2778 | 59.7 | <0.001 |
| Yes-VT, nonsustained | 25 714 | 23.8 | 17 902 | 24.0 | 1319 | 21.2 | 4747 | 22.8 | 427 | 23.9 | 1319 | 28.3 | |
| Yes-monomorphic sustained VT | 9435 | 8.7 | 6800 | 9.1 | 398 | 6.4 | 1675 | 8.1 | 118 | 6.6 | 444 | 9.5 | |
| Yes-polymorphic sustained VT | 2177 | 2.0 | 1572 | 2.1 | 81 | 1.3 | 381 | 1.8 | 27 | 1.5 | 116 | 2.5 | |
| Ischemic heart disease | 77 700 | 72.0 | 53 311 | 71.6 | 4616 | 74.2 | 15 118 | 72.7 | 1308 | 73.1 | 3347 | 71.9 | <0.001 |
| Previous CABG | 44 346 | 41.1 | 30 377 | 40.8 | 2654 | 42.7 | 8619 | 41.4 | 777 | 43.4 | 1919 | 41.2 | 0.005 |
| Previous PCI | 37 543 | 34.8 | 25 501 | 34.2 | 2417 | 38.9 | 7317 | 35.2 | 586 | 32.7 | 1722 | 37.0 | <0.001 |
| Pacemaker insertion | 16 448 | 15.2 | 11 114 | 14.9 | 924 | 14.9 | 3326 | 16.0 | 351 | 19.6 | 733 | 15.7 | <0.001 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 18 884 | 17.5 | 12 639 | 17.0 | 1174 | 18.9 | 3868 | 18.6 | 403 | 22.5 | 800 | 17.2 | <0.001 |
| Chronic lung disease | 26 711 | 24.7 | 17 890 | 24.0 | 1640 | 26.4 | 5362 | 25.8 | 538 | 30.1 | 1281 | 27.5 | <0.001 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 40 954 | 37.9 | 28 015 | 37.6 | 2443 | 39.3 | 7952 | 38.2 | 679 | 37.9 | 1865 | 40.0 | 0.001 |
| Hypertension | 86 173 | 79.8 | 59 167 | 79.4 | 5004 | 80.5 | 16 748 | 80.5 | 1456 | 81.3 | 3798 | 81.6 | <0.001 |
| Renal failure-dialysis | 4327 | 4.0 | 2944 | 4.0 | 259 | 4.2 | 806 | 3.9 | 91 | 5.1 | 227 | 4.9 | 0.002 |
| Diagnostics | |||||||||||||
| %EF, mean (SD) | 27.72 | 9.9 | 27.84 | 10.0 | 27.29 | 9.4 | 27.55 | 9.7 | 25.98 | 8.8 | 27.76 | 9.9 | <0.001 |
| QRS duration, mean (SD) | 131.64 | 34.5 | 132.00 | 34.5 | 129.83 | 34.0 | 130.96 | 34.4 | 131.32 | 35.8 | 131.45 | 34.9 | <0.001 |
| ICD procedure(s) | |||||||||||||
| ICD indication: primary prevention | 90 550 | 83.9 | 62 600 | 84.0 | 5242 | 84.3 | 17 390 | 83.6 | 1511 | 84.4 | 3807 | 81.7 | 0.001 |
| ICD type | |||||||||||||
| Missing | 151 | 0.1 | 112 | 0.2 | 8 | 0.1 | 24 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | 6 | 0.1 | <0.001 |
| Single chamber | 19 135 | 17.7 | 13 034 | 17.5 | 1237 | 19.9 | 3925 | 18.9 | 286 | 16.0 | 653 | 14.0 | |
| Dual chamber | 41 118 | 38.1 | 27 602 | 37.0 | 2500 | 40.2 | 8206 | 39.5 | 817 | 45.6 | 1993 | 42.8 | |
| Biventricular | 47 562 | 44.1 | 33 757 | 45.3 | 2474 | 39.8 | 8640 | 41.5 | 686 | 38.3 | 2005 | 43.1 | |
CABG indicates coronary artery bypass graft; EF, ejection fraction; ICD, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; NYHA, New York Health Association; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; and VT, ventricular tachycardia.