Table 2 Characteristics of the patients divided into groups based on HRQoLa
| Total number of patients | Lower EQ-VAS | Higher EQ-VAS | p-value | Lower EQ-5D | Higher EQ-5D | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 449 | 478 | 402 | 548 | |||
| Age ≥ 80 years | 199 (44.3) | 220 (46.0) | 0.649 | 197 (49.0) | 236 (43.1) | 0.080 |
| Female | 224 (49.9) | 210 (43.9) | 0.080 | 205 (51.0) | 232 (42.3) | 0.010 |
| Body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2 | 94 (22.7) | 99 (22.1) | 0.909 | 99 (26.3) | 97 (19.2) | 0.016 |
| Current smoker | 46 (10.2) | 30 (6.3) | 0.038 | 43 (10.7) | 32 (5.9) | 0.009 |
| Level of education | 0.026 | 0.025 | ||||
| Less than high school | 140 (31.5) | 113 (23.8) | 127 (32.0) | 131 (24.1) | ||
| High school | 219 (49.3) | 253 (53.3) | 194 (48.9) | 288 (53.0) | ||
| University | 85 (19.1) | 109 (22.9) | 76 (19.1) | 124 (22.8) | ||
| Nonindependent living | 99 (22.0) | 62 (13.0) | < 0.001 | 114 (28.4) | 53 (9.7) | < 0.001 |
| Dementia | 37 (8.2) | 25 (5.2) | 0.089 | 31 (7.7) | 34 (6.2) | 0.436 |
| Renal impairment (eGFR < 50 ml/min) | 156 (35.9) | 151 (32.1) | 0.254 | 132 (34.3) | 174 (32.2) | 0.544 |
| DADL (Barthel index) b: Moderate or severe | 269 (60.7) | 164 (34.6) | < 0.001 | 276 (70.2) | 169 (31.0) | < 0.001 |
| ≥ 1 Fall(s) during past year | 99 (22.2) | 77 (16.2) | 0.025 | 103 (25.9) | 77 (14.2) | < 0.001 |
| Trial site | 0.589 | < 0.001 | ||||
| Bern | 200 (44.5) | 228 (47.7) | 129 (32.1) | 309 (56.4) | ||
| Cork | 63 (14.0) | 71 (14.9) | 40 (10.0) | 98 (17.9) | ||
| Louvain | 71 (15.8) | 74 (15.5) | 68 (16.9) | 80 (14.6) | ||
| Utrecht | 115 (25.6) | 105 (22.0) | 165 (41.0) | 61 (11.1) | ||
| Ward specialism (surgical/medical): Surgical | 88 (19.6) | 103 (21.5) | 0.514 | 95 (23.6) | 102 (18.6) | 0.071 |
| Type of hospital admittance: Nonelective | 335 (75.3) | 364 (76.3) | 0.774 | 285 (72.0) | 430 (78.5) | 0.026 |
| ≥ 1 Hospital admission(s) during past year | 112 (25.0) | 96 (20.1) | 0.090 | 101 (25.2) | 110 (20.1) | 0.075 |
| Medication use-related factors | ||||||
| Hyperpolypharmacy (≥ 10 medications) | 264 (58.8) | 239 (50.0) | 0.009 | 236 (58.7) | 271 (49.5) | 0.006 |
| Anticholinergic and sedative burden | 0.834 | < 0.001 | ||||
| DBI = 0 | 221 (49.2) | 244 (51.0) | 178 (44.3) | 303 (55.3) | ||
| DBI 0–1 | 134 (29.8) | 135 (28.2) | 119 (29.6) | 154 (28.1) | ||
| DBI ≥ 1 | 94 (20.9) | 99 (20.7) | 105 (26.1) | 91 (16.6) | ||
| Appropriateness of medication: | ||||||
| No. of prescribing omissions | 0.463 | 0.004 | ||||
| 0 | 186 (49.5) | 227 (53.8) | 160 (45.5) | 259 (55.7) | ||
| 1 | 121 (32.2) | 122 (28.9) | 113 (32.1) | 138 (29.7) | ||
| ≥ 2 | 69 (18.4) | 73 (17.3) | 79 (22.4) | 68 (14.6) | ||
| No. of inappropriate medications | 0.798 | 0.582 | ||||
| 0–1 | 102 (27.1) | 122 (28.9) | 93 (26.4) | 137 (29.5) | ||
| 2–4 | 100 (26.6) | 114 (27.0) | 99 (28.1) | 120 (25.8) | ||
| ≥ 5 | 174 (46.3) | 186 (44.1) | 160 (45.5) | 208 (44.7) | ||
| High-risk medicationc | ||||||
| Antidiabetics | 126 (28.1) | 116 (24.3) | 0.215 | 118 (29.4) | 125 (22.8) | 0.027 |
| Opioids | 94 (20.9) | 63 (13.2) | 0.002 | 94 (23.4) | 64 (11.7) | < 0.001 |
| Antibiotics | 50 (11.1) | 31 (6.5) | 0.017 | 42 (10.4) | 41 (7.5) | 0.138 |
| Benzodiazepines | 60 (13.4) | 48 (10.0) | 0.141 | 60 (14.9) | 50 (9.1) | 0.008 |
| Antidepressants | 118 (26.3) | 90 (18.8) | 0.008 | 107 (26.6) | 103 (18.8) | 0.005 |
| Medication complexity | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | ||||
| < 16.5 | 130 (29.0) | 169 (35.4) | 114 (28.4) | 203 (37.0) | ||
| 16.5–25.4 | 137 (30.5) | 175 (36.6) | 127 (31.6) | 188 (34.3) | ||
| ≥ 25.5 | 182 (40.5) | 134 (28.0) | 161 (40.0) | 157 (28.6) | ||
| Medication adherence (MMAS-8)© d | 0.930 | 0.139 | ||||
| Low adherence | 64 (15.1) | 73 (16.0) | 65 (17.2) | 74 (14.1) | ||
| Medium adherence | 173 (40.8) | 183 (40.1) | 139 (36.8) | 225 (43.0) | ||
| Good adherence | 187 (44.1) | 200 (43.9) | 174 (46.0) | 224 (42.8) | ||
Missing data: EQ-5D, 5 (0.5%); EQ-VAS, 28 (2.9%); BMI, 71 (7.4%); smoking status, 1 (0.1%); number of falls during the previous year, 8 (0.8%); level of education, 10 (1.0%); number of hospitalisations in the previous year, 2 (0.2%); admission type, 6 (0.6%); renal function, 24 (2.5%); Barthel Index of ADL, 11 (1.2%); medication adherence, 49 (5.1%); No of prescribing omissions, 133 (13.9%); No of inappropriate medications, 133 (13.9%)
aThe values are numbers (percentages)
bDependency on activities of daily living (DADL) measured with the Barthel index, a score of ≤ 60 is considered a severe dependency, 60–90 is considered moderate dependency and > 90 almost no dependency[10]
cOnly the high-risk medication (medication with a high risk for hospital (re)admissions in patients) with significant differences in proportions are displayed
dUse of the Morisky Medication Adherence Measure questionnaire is protected by U.S. copyright laws. Permission for use is required. A license agreement was obtained from Donald E Morisky, ScD, ScM, MSPH, Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, 650 Charles E Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1772, USA (dmorisky@ucla.edu)