Table 3.
Estimated effectsa (and 95% confidence intervalsb) of metformin adherence on each type of annualized exacerbation rate for both the whole and reduced sample. The simple linear model had only adherence as the explanatory variable; the multiple linear model included the linear effects of age, sex, BMI z-score, and the use of inhaled corticoid steroids.
| Sample | Model | Outpatient | Emergency room | Inpatient | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole | Simple linear | −2.1 (−4.9, 1.5) | −1.3 (−8.2, 1.5) | −0.1 (−0.2, −0.0) | −3.8 (−9.9, 0.2) |
| Multiple linear | −2.1 (−4.8, 0.9) | −0.2 (−4.3, 2.8) | −0.1 (−0.4, −0.0) | −2.7 (−7.5, 1.4) | |
| Reduced | Simple linear | −6.4 (−14.8, 4.6) | −4.2 (−26.1, 4.8) | −0.2 (−0.8, 0) | −11.7 (−30.4, 1.3) |
| Multiple linear | −5.9 (−13.4, 3.1) | −0.7 (−14.7, 9.1) | −0.4 (−1.4, −0.0) | −7.5 (−21.5, 5.4) |
a
Effects are expressed as the expected difference in rate changes between those who had (essentially) no adherence and those who had 100% adherence; these differences were multiplied by 100 to reduce leading 0s.
b
Bootstrapped confidence intervals not containing 0 indicate that adherence was significantly related to the change in rates at the 0.05 level.