Table 1.
Demographic characteristics and insurance categories by race/ethnicity of the sample of patients with asthma from two Massachusetts urban safety net hospital systems, 2005–2013
| Variable | Total Patient Sample | Non-Hispanic White | Hispanic | Black/African American | Asian/Asian Pacific Islander |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total sample, n* | 15,815 | 6,099 | 1,049 | 7,851 | 816 |
| Age, yr, mean (SD) | 38.3 (12.5) | 38.5 (12.3) | 37.3 (11.9) | 38.2 (12.6) | 39.8 (12.9) |
| Sex, female | 10,427 (65.9) | 3,813 (62.5) | 634 (60.6) | 5,443 (69.3) | 537 (65.8) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index (weighted)†‡ | |||||
| 1 | 13,171 (83.3) | 5,232 (85.8) | 840 (80.1) | 6,372 (81.2) | 737 (89.2) |
| 2+ | 2,636 (16.7) | 867 (14.2) | 208 (19.9) | 1,473 (18.8) | 88 (10.8) |
| Percentage in census tract high school graduate or higher, mean (SD)§ | 82.9 (10.6) | 87.7 (9.9) | 79.4 (11.0) | 79.5 (9.5) | 83.6 (11.1) |
| Median census tract income (2014 dollars), mean (SD)§ | 58,694.8 (26,996.0) | 71,683.7 (28,749.7) | 51,166.8 (22,155.1) | 49,105.9 (21,154.9) | 63,723.3 (27,784.6) |
| English as primary language | 14,302 (90.4) | 5,849 (95.9) | 717 (68.4) | 7,268 (92.6) | 468 (57.4) |
| Location | |||||
| Academic center 1 | 7,469 (47.2) | 2,388 (39.1) | 501 (47.8) | 4,355 (55.5) | 225 (27.6) |
| Health centers | 4,797 (30.3) | 1,523 (25.0) | 298 (28.4) | 2,705 (34.4) | 271 (33.2) |
| Academic center 2 | 3,549 (22.4) | 2,188 (35.89 | 250 (23.8) | 791 (10.1) | 320 (39.2) |
| Insurance instability by race/ethnicity (interval level)ǁ | |||||
| Stable private insurance, %ǁ | 6,093 (38.5) | 3,541 (58.1) | 275 (26.2) | 1,896 (24.2) | 381 (46.7) |
| Stable public insurance, %ǁ | 6,064 (38.3) | 1,701 (27.9) | 493 (47.0) | 3,579 (45.6) | 291 (35.7) |
| Insurance switches, %ǁ | 1,865 (11.8) | 496 (8.2) | 132 (12.5) | 1,192 (15.2) | 45 (5.6) |
| Switch without losing, %ǁ | 751 (4.8) | 247 (4.1) | 55 (5.2) | 429 (5.5) | 20 (2.5) |
| Switch to insured, %ǁ | 631 (4.0) | 139 (2.3) | 39 (3.7) | 439 (5.6) | 14 (1.7) |
| Switch to uninsured, %ǁ | 483 (3.1) | 110 (1.8) | 38 (3.6) | 324 (4.1) | 11 (1.4) |
| Uninsured, %ǁ | 1,793 (11.3) | 361 (5.9) | 149 (14.2) | 1,184 (15.1) | 99 (12.1) |
Definition of abbreviations: ICD9 = International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision; SD = standard deviation.
Results are frequency (%) unless otherwise indicated. The research data has been presented previously in an abstract form (poster) at Academy Health conference in 2020. See Reference 27.
Asthma diagnosis based on ICD9: 493.
Data presented at the patient level.
Variable based on data from first date of medical records.
Index containing 17 categories of comorbidity and predicts the 10-year mortality for a patient who may have a range of comorbid conditions.
U.S. census tract–level sociodemographic data used to estimate patients’ education level and income by geographic area.
Insurance category data are interval-level data, Note that the first interval for each patient is used. Insurance stability status was determined by comparing each primary care visit to the previous primary care visit. Note: 6,820 out of 15,815 (43%) patients have at least one missed 6-month interval. Of the patients with at least one set of adjacent skipped intervals, 53% did not skip more than one interval before having another visit.