Outcomes following emergent open repair for thoracic aortic dissection are improved at higher volume centers in direct admissions and transfers

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study population by center volume

	Low volume			Intermediate volume			High volume
N	963	63.9		370	24.5		174	11.6
Baseline Characteristic	N/mean	%/stdev	p-value*	N/mean	%/stdev	p-value*	N/mean	%/stdev
Age (years)	59.1	14.8	0.196	59.6	14.5	0.142	57.6	15.6
Male gender	651	67.6	0.926	253	68.4	0.791	117	67.2
Primary payer: Medicare	356	37	0.037	137	37	0.058	50	28.7
Primary payer: Medicaid	80	8.3	0.003	23	6.2	<0.001	27	15.5
Primary payer: Private insurance	391	40.6	0.185	157	42.4	0.437	80	46
Comorbidities
APR-DRG severity score	3.38	0.66	0.195	3.46	0.63	0.007	3.31	0.61
Hypertension	585	60.8	0.853	218	59	0.568	107	61.5
Peripheral vascular disorder	183	19	0.868	82	22.2	0.486	34	19.5
Obesity	82	8.5	0.218	25	6.8	0.654	10	5.8
Renal failure	81	8.4	0.046	38	10.3	0.014	7	4.0
Diabetes Mellitus	76	7.9	0.849	25	6.8	0.760	13	7.5
Paralysis	55	5.7	0.123	16	4.3	0.413	5	2.9
Hx alcohol abuse	50	5.2	0.991	19	5.1	0.985	9	5.2
Hx drug abuse	39	4.1	0.708	17	5	0.535	6	3.5

ISSN: 1749-8090