Table 5. 12-Month Medication and Health Care Use.
| Variable | No (%) of Patients with Any Use Over 12 Months | Amount of Use in Entire Sample Over 12 Months Mean (SD); Median (Range) | P Value a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention Group (n = 123) | Usual Care Group (n = 127) | Intervention Group (n = 123) | Usual Care Group (n = 127) | ||
| Medication use, mo | |||||
| Antidepressants | 121 (98) | 54 (43) | 9.2 (4.2); 12 (0-12) | 2.0 (3.3); 0 (0-12) | < .001 |
| Tricyclics b | 32 (26) | 35 (28) | 1.2 (2.7); 0 (0-12) | 1.2 (2.6); 0 (0-12) | .98 |
| Other psychotropics | 20 (16) | 16 (13) | 0.7 (2.2); 0 (0-12) | 0.7 (2.2); 0 (0-12) | .89 |
| Opioid analgesics | 67 (54) | 67 (53) | 3.5 (4.6); 1 (0-12) | 3.0 (4.2); 1 (0-12) | .35 |
| Other analgesics c | 74 (60) | 82 (66) | 2.5 (3.1); 1 (0-12) | 2.8 (3.4); 1 (0-12) | .44 |
| Health care use, No. | |||||
| Outpatient visits | |||||
| Primary care | 115 (94) | 119 (94) | 6.3 (5.8) 5 (0-35) | 5.9 (5.3); 4 (0-33) | .16 |
| Medical specialty | 52 (42) | 53 (42) | 1.3 (2.3); 0 (0-16) | 1.6 (2.8); 0 (0-19) | .03 |
| Surgical specialty | 77 (63) | 86 (68) | 2.7(4.0); 1 (0-24) | 2.4 (3.5); 1 (0-26) | .10 |
| Mental health | 31 (25) | 21 (17) | 1.6 (7.9); (0-82) | 0.7 (2.9); 0 (0-24) | < .001 |
| Other | 45 (37) | 53 (42) | 1.4 (3.4); 0 (0-23) | 1.2 (2.4); 0 (0-18) | .16 |
| Emergency dept visits | 61 (50) | 59 (46) | 1.8 (3.5); 0 (0-27) | 1.2 (2.1); 0 (0-14) | < .001 |
| Time in hospital, d | 25 (20) | 18 (14) | 1.5 (5.9); 0 (0-49) | 0.8 (2.5); 0 (0-15) | < .001 |
a
Differences between group means were compared using t-test for amount of medication use and Poisson modeling for amount of health care use
b
Typically low-dose (< 100 mg amitriptyline or equivalent) rather than antidepressant dose level
c
The use of “other analgesics” may be underestimated since simple analgesics are often obtained without a prescription and would not be captured by electronic prescribing data.