Baseline characteristics of subjects by gender*
| Characteristics | Male (n=367) | Female (n=370) | p Value |
| Socio-demographics | |||
| Study arm, intervention | 195 (53) | 174 (47) | 0.10 |
| Age, mean (SD), years | 47.9 (14.5) | 51.6 (15.5) | <0.01 |
| Race, n (%) | |||
| White non-Hispanic | 113 (34) | 92 (27) | 0.02 |
| Black non-Hispanic | 171 (51) | 215 (62) | |
| Hispanic | 44 (13) | 30 (9) | |
| Other race or mixed race | 7 (2) | 9 (3) | |
| Annual personal income, n (%) | |||
| No income | 54 (15) | 45 (12) | <0.01 |
| <$10 000 | 53 (15) | 83 (22) | |
| $10 000–$19 999 | 59 (16) | 71 (19) | |
| $20 000 or more | 102 (28) | 72 (19) | |
| Declined to answer | 97 (27) | 99 (27) | |
| Health insurance, n (%) | |||
| Private | 66 (18) | 53 (14) | <0.01 |
| Medicaid | 157 (43) | 199 (54) | |
| Medicare | 46 (13) | 52 (14) | |
| Free care† | 93 (26) | 64 (17) | |
| Highest educational level, n (%) | |||
| Some high school | 97 (26) | 91 (25) | 0.75 |
| High school graduate or GED | 136 (37) | 146 (40) | |
| Any college | 134 (37) | 131 (36) | |
| REALM health literacy score, mean (SD) | 48.1 (21.4) | 49.5 (21.1) | 0.35 |
| Health literacy level‡, n (%) | |||
| Grade 3 and below | 55 (15) | 52 (15) | 0.31 |
| Grades 4–6 | 45 (13) | 31 (9) | |
| Grades 7–8 | 107 (30) | 121 (34) | |
| Grade 9 and above | 149 (42) | 154 (43) | |
| Current marital status, n (%) | |||
| Married | 112 (31) | 116 (31) | 0.83 |
| Not married | 253 (69) | 253 (69) | |
| Current employment status, n (%) | |||
| Employed | 149 (41) | 116 (31) | <0.01 |
| Unemployed | 72 (20) | 70 (19) | |
| Disabled | 78 (21) | 86 (23) | |
| Retired | 58 (16) | 73 (20) | |
| Other (student, homemaker, other) | 8 (2) | 24 (7) | |
| Homeless in last 3 months, n (%) | 40 (11) | 35 (10) | 0.52 |
| Healthcare utilisation | |||
| Hospital utilisation (hospital utilisations in 6 months prior to index admission) | |||
| 0 | 165 (45) | 143 (39) | 0.23 |
| 1–2 | 125 (34) | 143 (39) | |
| ≥3 | 77 (21) | 82 (22) | |
| Prior hospital admissions, mean (SD)§ | 0.66 (1.4) | 0.66 (1.1) | 0.97 |
| Prior ED visits, mean (SD)§ | 0.9 (1.8) | 1.0 (1.6) | 0.40 |
| Length of stay, mean (SD), days | 2.7 (3.6) | 2.6 (2.5) | 0.51 |
| Had PCP at enrolment, n (%) | 271 (74) | 324 (88) | <0.01 |
| Health status indicators | |||
| Charlson comorbidity score,¶ mean (SD) | 1.1 (1.9) | 1.4 (1.9) | 0.05 |
| SF-12,** mean (SD) | |||
| PCS | 40.7 (7.0) | 40.2 (7.6) | 0.30 |
| MCS | 46.6 (9.2) | 46.3 (9.9) | 0.67 |
| PHQ-9 depression screen,†† mean (SD) | 1.9 (2.2) | 2.5 (2.3) | <0.01 |
| PHQ-9 depression screen,†† n (%) | |||
| Major depressive disorder, n (%) | 48 (13) | 72 (19) | 0.02 |
| Other depressive disorder, n (%) | 56 (15) | 60 (16) | 0.76 |
| Any depressive disorder, n (%) | 104 (29) | 132 (36) | 0.04 |
| Patient reported depression questions | |||
| Ever given clinical depression diagnosis | 95 (26) | 169 (46) | <0.01 |
| Ever prescribed meds for depression | 82 (22) | 153 (41) | <0.01 |
| Currently taking meds for depression | 46 (13) | 98 (26) | <0.01 |
| Completed treatment for depression | 1 (<0.1) | 0 | 0.32 |
| Treatment for depression successful | 12 (3) | 19 (5) | 0.21 |
| Ever stopped taking depression meds without telling clinician | 21 (6) | 37 (10) | 0.03 |
↵* Not all column percentages sum to 100% due to missing values.
↵† Free care refers to a Massachusetts state programme for uninsured patients.
↵‡ REALM health literacy categories correspond to total REALM scores of grade 3 and below (0–18), grades 4–6 (19–44), grades 7–8 (45–60), grade 9 and above (61–66).
↵§ Prior hospital admissions and ED visits include those that occurred within 6 months prior to index admission.
↵¶ Charlson comorbidity index reflects the cumulative increased likelihood of 1-year mortality; the higher the score, the more severe the burden of comorbidity; a 35% increase in risk of dying is reflected in a one-point increase in weights. Minimum score equals 0, no maximum score.
↵** Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12)—Physical Component Summary (PCS): range 0–100, mean score for US population=50 (SD=10), higher scores suggest greater physical functional status. Mental Component Summary (MCS): range 0–100, mean score for US population=50 (SD=10), higher scores suggest greater mental functional status.
↵†† Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9): 9-item 4-point Likert scale, standard scoring algorithm to diagnose major and minor depression and anxiety disorders.
ED, emergency department; PCP, primary care physician; REALM, Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine.