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. 2025 Apr 28;16(4):1389–1402. doi: 10.1007/s41999-025-01201-3

Table 1.

Descriptive statistics for study participants

Overall
N = 3619
n (%)
No STOPP
N = 2496
n (%)
Any STOPP
N = 1123
n (%)
No START
N = 2310
n (%)
Any START
N = 1309
n (%)
Age in years, M (SD) 74.20 (6.99) 73.67 (6.88) 75.37 (7.09) 73.68 (6.89) 75.12 (7.06)
 65–74 years 2114 (58.41) 1532 (61.38) 582 (51.83) 1423 (61.60) 691 (52.79)
 ≥ 75 years 1505 (41.59) 964 (38.62) 541 (48.17) 887 (38.40) 618 (47.21)
Sex
 Male 1667 (46.06) 1191 (47.72) 476 (42.39) 1165 (50.43) 502 (38.35)
 Female 1952 (53.94) 1305 (52.28) 647 (57.61) 1145 (49.57) 807 (61.65)
Education
 Primary/none 1194 (32.99) 763 (30.57) 431 (38.38) 761 (32.94) 433 (33.08)
 Secondary 1316 (36.36) 919 (36.82) 397 (35.35) 818 (35.41) 498 (38.04)
 Third/higher 1109 (30.64) 814 (32.61) 295 (26.27) 731 (31.65) 378 (28.88)
Employment statusa
 Employed 456 (12.61) 360 (14.43) 96 (8.55) 354 (15.34) 102 (7.79)
 Retired 2559 (70.75) 1741 (69.81) 818 (72.84) 1610 (69.76) 949 (72.50)
 Other 602 (16.64) 393 (15.76) 209 (18.61) 344 (14.90) 258 (19.71)
Health insuranceb
 Not covered 122 (4.04) 100 (4.82) 22 (2.34) 87 (4.50) 35 (3.23)
 Private insurance only 734 (24.32) 585 (28.18) 149 (15.82) 518 (26.80) 216 (19.91)
 GMS cover only 1319 (43.70) 838 (40.37) 481 (51.06) 804 (41.59) 515 (47.47)
 Dual cover 843 (27.93) 553 (26.64) 290 (30.79) 524 (27.11) 319 (29.40)
Number of morbidities, M (SD) 2.36 (1.62) 2.09 (1.53) 2.97 (1.66) 2.00 (1.48) 2.98 (1.67)
Multimorbidity category
 None 419 (11.58) 367 (14.70) 52 (4.63) 356 (15.41) 63 (4.81)
 1 chronic condition 738 (20.39) 578 (23.16) 160 (14.25) 560 (24.24) 178 (13.60)
 2 chronic conditions 940 (25.97) 693 (27.76) 247 (21.99) 628 (27.19) 312 (23.83)
 ≥ 3 chronic conditions 1522 (42.06) 858 (34.38) 664 (59.13) 766 (33.16) 756 (57.75)
Number of prescribed medications, M (SD) 4.02 (3.16) 3.17 (2.73) 6.09 (3.18) 3.65 (3.06) 4.69 (3.21)
Polypharmacy category
 0–4 medications 2213 (61.15) 1822 (73.00) 391 (34.82) 1523 (65.93) 690 (52.71)
 5–9 medications 1188 (32.83) 614 (24.60) 574 (51.11) 679 (29.39) 509 (38.88)
 ≥ 10 medications 218 (6.02) 60 (2.40) 158 (14.07) 108 (4.68) 110 (8.40)

aData missing for two participants; b data missing for 601 participants