Table 1.
Patient Characteristics*
| Patient Characteristics | 1998 | 2000 | P Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years, mean (SD)) | 75.3 (6.5) | 76.4 (6.0) | <.0001 |
| Female (%) | 60 | 59 | .71 |
| White (%) | 87 | 90 | .002 |
| High school graduate (%) | 78 | 81 | .006 |
| Low income (%<$20,000/y) | 42 | 36 | <.0001 |
| Married (%) | 58 | 57 | .55 |
| Health status† | |||
| Physical component scale (mean (SD)) | 40.1 (12.0) | 39.8 (11.9) | .38 |
| Mental component scale (mean (SD)) | 52.0 (9.7) | 52.1 (9.6) | .63 |
| Disease count | 2.2 (1.7) | 2.3 (1.6) | .08 |
| Number of prescription medications | 4.0 (2.7) | 4.4 (2.8) | .0002 |
| Monthly out-of-pocket medication costs (%) | |||
| $0 | 15 | 8 | <.0001 |
| $1-$24 | 41 | 33 | <.0001 |
| $25-$49 | 19 | 24 | .0003 |
| $50-99 | 13 | 17 | .0001 |
| $100-200 | 8.3 | 11.8 | .0002 |
| >$200 | 3.9 | 6.1 | .001 |
| Monthly premium costs ($, mean (SD)) | 46 (67) | 57 (75) | <.0001 |
| Medicare HMO (%) | 34 | 36 | .04 |
| Prescription drug coverage (%) | 71 | 73 | .19 |
| Number of outpatients visits in last 6 months (mean (SD)) | 3.6 (3.6) | 3.3 (3.2) | .005 |
| Inpatient stay in last 12 months (1 or more, %) | 31 | 19 | <.0001 |
| Physician-patient relationship quality‡ (mean (SD)) | 74.8 (16.4) | 73.7 (16.8) | .03 |
| Cost-related medication skipping rate (%) | 9.5 | 13.1 | <.0001 |
*
We applied sampling weights to all results to correct for difference in sampling probabilities across the strata. The observed sample size was 7,130 for 1998 and 4,630 for 2000.
†
Both the physical and mental component scales have a mean of 50 and an SD of 10. Higher scores indicate better health.
‡
0 to 100 scale with 100 representing the best possible physician patient relationship quality.