Table 1.
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population pre-ACA, pre-Medicaid expansion, and post-Medicaid expansion (n = 15,287)
| Category | Post-ACA | |||
| Pre-ACA (2007 to 2010) | Pre-Medicaid expansion (2011 to 2013) | Post-Medicaid expansion (2014 to 2015) | p value | |
| Number of new diagnoses | 43% (6537) | 33% (5076) | 24% (3674) | |
| Age in years, median (interquartile range) | 56 (42 to 70) | 57 (42 to 69) | 57 (42 to 69) | 0.441a |
| Gender | 0.01 | |||
| Women | 46% (3009) | 43% (2201) | 44% (1620) | |
| Men | 54% (3528) | 57% (2875) | 56% (2054) | |
| Race | 0.007 | |||
| White | 80% (5230) | 80% (4080) | 78% (2870) | |
| Black | 11% (749) | 11% (551) | 12% (428) | |
| Other | 8% (505) | 8% (410) | 9% (327) | |
| Unknown | 1% (53) | 1% (35) | 1% (49) | |
| Type of cancer | 0.69 | |||
| Bones and joints | 24% (1582) | 24% (1196) | 24% (869) | |
| Soft-tissue sarcoma | 76% (4955) | 76% (3880) | 76% (2805) | |
| Primary site location | 0.39 | |||
| Upper limb | 20% (1276) | 20% (989) | 21% (756) | |
| Lower limb | 55% (3618) | 56% (2849) | 56% (2053) | |
| Pelvis | 19% (1264) | 18% (932) | 18% (662) | |
| Vertebral column (bone only) | 2% (163) | 2% (115) | 2% (75) | |
| Other/unspecified | 3% (216) | 4% (191) | 4% (128) | |
| Insurance status | < 0.001 | |||
| Medicaid | 11% (701) | 12% (583) | 14% (512) | |
| Private/Medicare/other government | 85% (5553) | 84% (4262) | 83% (3056) | |
| Uninsured | 4% (283) | 5% (231) | 3% (106) | |
| AJCC stage | < 0.001 | |||
| I | 28% (1809) | 38% (1915) | 38% (1404) | |
| II | 16% (1069) | 20% (1022 | 23% (860) | |
| III | 14% (938) | 21% (1059) | 20% (753) | |
| IV | 13% (878) | 12% (620) | 10% (378) | |
| Unknown/not applicable | 28% (1843) | 9% (460) | 8% (279) | |
a
Kruskall-Wallis test; ACA = Affordable Care Act; AJCC = American Joint Commission on Cancer.