Descriptive statistics of dependent and independent variables
| Description | Frequency or mean (range) | |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent variable | ||
| Sued | Physician ever sued 1 Jan 1990–31 Aug 1997 | 3423 (11.3%) |
| Independent variable(s) | ||
| Age | Age of physician (at 31 Aug 1997) | 45.4 (30–98) |
| Anesthesiology | Physician specialty = anesthesiology | 1757 (5.8%) |
| OB/GYN | Physician specialty = OB/GYN | 1636 (5.4%) |
| Surgical specialty | Physician specialty = orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, neurosurgery | 1908 (6.3%) |
| Other surgery | Physician specialty = other surgery | 1030 (3.4%) |
| Radiology | Physician specialty = radiology | 1545 (5.1%) |
| Emergency medicine | Physician specialty = emergency medicine | 1121 (3.7%) |
| Primary care | Physician specialty = family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics (with no subspecialty) | 10056 (33.2%) |
| IMG | International (outside US and Canada) medical school graduate | 10086 (33.3%) |
| Graduate of medical school outlier (<10th percentile) | Physician is a graduate of a US medical school classified as a low outlier | 1121 (3.7%) |
| Graduate of medical school outlier (>90th percentile) | Physician is a graduate of a US medical school classified as a high outlier | 3120 (10.3%) |