Table 2.

Characteristics of Patients Aged ≥65 years with CRD in WA 1992–2006, Overall and by Pharmacotherapy Level

Patient characteristic	All patients	SAB	Low dose ICS	Medium dose ICS ± LAB	High dose ICS ± LAB ± OS
Number of patients	108,455	29,740	9,384	37,125	32,206
Mean ag e ± SD at start of follow-up	72.7 ± 7.0	74.7 ± 7.6	72.7 ± 6.8	71.4 ± 6.4	72.3 ± 6.7
% Female patients	53.1	54.0	56.3	53.3	51.0
% Indigenous patients	0.6	0.8	0.4	0.5	0.6
Mean ± SD GP visit numbera	30.2 ± 23.7	26.7 ± 22.3	28.8 ± 22.1	29.3 ± 22.1	34.9 ± 26.4
Median GP visit regularity a,b	45.1	29.0	43.2	46.0	62.2
All-cause mortality analyses
Number of patients included in analysesc	66,390	14,159	5,985	23,849	22,397
Average years ± SD of follow-up	4.8 ± 3.2	4.2 ± 2.9	4.9 ± 3.3	4.6 ± 3.1	5.4 ± 3.3
Person-years of follow-up	319,138.2	59,641.7	29,285.3	109,150.4	121,060.8
Number of deaths at the end of follow-up	4,841	827	369	1,301	2,344
Mortality rate (per 100,000 PY)	1,516.9	1,386.6	1,260.0	1,191.9	1,936.2
First CRD hospitalisation analyses
Number of patients included in analysesd	54,641	12,826	5,434	20,113	16,268
Average± SD years of follow-up	4.4 ± 3.1	4.2 ± 2.9	4.8 ± 3.3	4.1 ± 3.0	4.6 ± 3.2
Person-years of follow-up	237,839.6	54,101.4	25,924.6	83,435.4	74,378.3
Number of first hospitalisations at the end of follow-up	7,331	447	330	2,400	4,154
Hospitalisation rate (per 100,000 PY)	3,082.3	826.2	1272.9	2876.5	5585.0

^aDuring the 3-year exposure period

^bMultiplied by 100,000

^cPatients who were alive at the end of the exposure and wash-out periods

^dPatients who did not have a CRD hospitalisation during the exposure and wash-out periods and who were alive at the end of the two periods

SAB = short-acting bronchodilators

ICS = inhaled corticosteroids

LAB = long-acting bronchodilators

OS = oral steriods

PY = person-years