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Table 1 Patient, imaging and fellow characteristics stratified by discordance in TTE interpretation between fellows and attendings

From: On-call transthoracic echocardiographic interpretation by first year cardiology fellows: comparison with attending cardiologists

 

Discordant

(n ≤ 167)

Concordant

(n ≤ 610)

P value

Age, years (n = 728)a

63.4 ± 17.2

63.3 ± 17.1

0.94

Sex (n = 728)a

 Female

68 (42.5)

241 (42.4)

0.99

 Male

92 (57.5)

327 (57.6)

 

Body mass index, kg/m2 (n = 717)a

27.1 (23.4, 31.5)

27.3 (23.5, 32.6)

0.38

Systolic BP, mmHg (n = 747)b

113.8 ± 21.0

115.4 ± 23.1

0.42

Systolic BP (n = 747)

  

0.07

 Systolic BP < 90

15 (9.4)

69 (11.8)

 

 Systolic BP 90–125

106 (66.3)

330 (56.2)

 

 Systolic BP > 125

39 (24.4)

188 (32.0)

 

Diastolic BP, mmHg (n = 747)b

66.2 ± 15.9

66.0 ± 15.9

0.87

Heart rate, beats per min (n = 765)

92.1 ± 24.2

88.4 ± 21.7

0.06

Duration of study acquisition, min (n = 678)

18.5 (11.0, 26.0)

14.0 (8.0, 21.0)

< 0.001

Number of TTEs prior to index case (n = 673)c

10 (5, 19)

11 (5, 20)

0.35

Month of Fellowship (n = 777)

  

0.59

 September to February

76 (45.5)

292 (47.9)

 

 March to August

91 (54.5)

318 (52.1)

 

Time of TTE (n = 718)

  

0.35

 7 AM to 5 PM (Daytime)

26 (16.7)

77 (13.7)

 

 5 PM to 7 AM (Nighttime)

130 (83.3)

485 (86.3)

 

Weekend TTE (n = 777)

81 (48.5)

284 (46.6)

0.66

Location of TTE (n = 774)

  

0.44

 ICU or PACU

66 (39.5)

201 (33.1)

 

 Catheterization or EP Lab

3 (1.8)

16 (2.6)

 

 Inpatient

57 (34.1)

235 (38.7)

 

 Emergency Department

41 (24.6)

155 (25.5)

 

Primary Indication (n = 777)

  

0.002

 LV Function

88 (52.7)

230 (37.7)

 

 Pericardial effusion

48 (28.7)

242 (39.7)

 

Post Procedure TTE (n = 777)

33 (19.8)

169 (27.7)

0.04

Repeat TTE (n = 777)

66 (39.5)

210 (34.4)

0.22

Suboptimal Image Quality (n = 775)

77 (46.1)

268 (44.1)

0.64

Abnormal Findings (n = 773)

  

< 0.001

 Abnormal

143 (86.7)

359 (59.1)

 

 Normal

21 (12.7)

240 (39.5)

 

 Indeterminate

1 (0.6)

9 (1.5)

 

Death during hospitalization (n = 728)

34 (21.3)

88 (15.5)

0.09

  1. Values are median (25th, 75th percentile), mean ± SD or n (%). Numbers (%) indicate proportions among discordant or concordant TTE interpretations between fellows and attending. aAge, Sex and Body Mass index were estimated at the time of the first TTE for each patient. bSystolic and diastolic blood pressure was recorded for patients who did not have a VAD/Impella or were on ECMO. cNumber of TTEs prior to the index case was determined for TTEs by fellows with complete data for each year (excluded TTEs performed during 2/12/2013–8/30/2013). Abbreviations: BP Blood pressure, EP Electrophysiology, ICU Intensive care unit, LV Left ventricular, PACU post-anesthesia care unit, TTE transthoracic echocardiogram