Study Population
We identified all adult hospitalizations (aged >18 years)
that were associated with a diagnosis code of dissection or aneurysm of
the thoracic aorta without rupture (ICD-9-CM 441.00, 441.01, 441.03,
441.9, and ICD-10-CM I71.00, I71.01, I71.03, I71.2, I71.5). Then, we
proceed to identify admissions associated with a TEVAR procedure. To
exclude patients undergoing TEVAR in the aortic arch surgical
reconstruction setting, patients with codes indicating Type A
dissection, cardioplegia, valve repair, or an operation on vessels of
the heart were excluded (see Supplemental Table 1 ). Patients
were stratified by race and ethnicity. Figure 1 is a CONSORT
diagram depicting the patient population and groups of analysis.