Patient-physician discussions about costs: definitions and impact on cost conversation incidence estimates

Table 2 Physician, patient, and visit characteristics^a

Characteristics	Breast cancer	Depression	Rheumatoid arthritis
Patients (N)	677	422	656
Age, years (%)
19–34	1	23	5
35–54	28	44	29
55–74	54	33	53
75+	17	1	13
Gender, female (%)	99	66	78
Race (%)
Caucasian	71	83	75
African– American	19	7	11
Hispanic	6	5	9
Other	4	4	5
Insurance status (%)
Private	49	49	54
Public	51	43	41
Uninsured	0	8	4
Physicians (N)	56	36	26
Visits recorded, median (N), (IQR)	9 (5–19)	13 (4–17)	28 (5–41)
Gender, male (%)	89	100	81
Years in practice (%)
0–10	37	16	11
11–20	44	34	58
21–30	15	44	14
31+	4	6	16
Visit dates	Jun 2010 – Aug 2013	May 2010– Jan 2014	Mar 2012 – Feb 2014
Visit Locations by US region^b (N)
East North Central	98	105	47
East South Central	23	21	69
Middle Atlantic	56	85	100
Mountain	80	22	0
New England	41	39	20
Pacific	74	18	177
South Atlantic	222	41	50
West North Central	23	55	102
West South Central	60	36	91

^aValues are percentages of total non–missing observations unless otherwise indicated. Less than 1 % of observations are missing. Percentage totals do not all sum to 100 due to rounding
^bList of states comprising each United States geographic region is provided in the Additional file 1: Table S1. Abbreviation: IQR indicates inter–quartile range

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