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. 2014 Oct 27;106(11):dju319. doi: 10.1093/jnci/dju319

Table 3.

Adherence (Medication Possession Ration >80%) of patients diagnosed with localized breast cancer at age 50 years or older who received adjuvant hormonal therapy*

Categories Unadjusted frequencies Multivariable analysis
Adhered Nonadhered OR (95% CI) P
No. (%) No. (%)
Total 3176 (75.1)  1050 (24.8)
Type of therapy
 AI-brand  1996 (70.9)  819 (29.1) 1.0 (reference)
 AI-generic  1180 (83.6)  231 (16.4) 1.53 (122 to 1.91) <.001
Prescription coverage characteristics
Adjusted 30-day copay
 <$15  1380 (82.8)  286 (17.2) 1.0 (reference)
 $15-$30 1012 (75.0)  338 (25.0) 0.74 (0.59 to 0.92) .008
 >$30  784 (64.8)  426 (35.2) 0.51 (0.41 to 0.65) <.001
Pharmacy deductible type
 No deductible 1858 (77.7) 1038 (22.3) 1.0 (reference)
 Pharmacy deductible only 169 (72.2) 123 (27.8) 0.81 (0.59 to 1.10) .17
 Shared pharmacy/medical deductible 144 (77.8) 94 (22.2) 0.87 (0.60 to 1.27) .48
Coverage type
 Commercial  2885 (77.2)  854 (22.8) 1.0 (reference)
 Medicare 291 (59.7) 196 (40.2) 0.52 (0.38 to 0.72) <.001
Clinical characteristics
Provider specialty (most common prov)
 Primary care/other  819 (76.1)  257 (23.9) 1.0 (reference)
 Hematology/oncology  2357 (74.8)  793 (25.2) 0.95 (0.80 to 1.12) .55
Surgery
 Lumpectomy/other  1463 (75.2)  483 (24.8) 1.0 (reference)
 Mastectomy 1713 (75.1)  567 (24.9) 1.10 (0.95 to 1.27) .19
Comorbidities (used ETG score)
 1–5  2573 (75.9) 817 (24.1) 1.0 (reference)
 6+  603 (72.1)  233 (27.9) 0.78 (0.65 to 0.93) .007
Age at diagnosis, y
 50–55  539 (75.0)  180 (25.0) 0.86 (0.71 to 1.06) .17
 56–65 1842 (77.4)  537 (22.6) 1.0 (reference)
 66–75  555 (76.2)  173 (23.8) 1.24 (0.99 to 1.57) .06
 75+  240 (60.0)  160 (40.0) 0.67 (0.51 to 0.88) .004
Sociodemographic characteristics
Race/ethnicity
 White  1965 (77.7)  565 (22.3) 1.0 (reference)
 Black  230 (73.7)  82 (26.3) 0.93 (0.69 to 1.24) .55
 Hispanic  154 (71.0)  63 (29.0) 1.15 (0.72 to 1.85) .55
 Asian  61 (81.3)  14 (18.7) 1.98 (0.99 to 3.96) .05
 Other/unknown race 766 (70.0) 326 (29.9) 0.64 (0.44 to 0.93) .02
Education
 High school or less 691 (75.0)  431 (25.0) 1.0 (reference)
 More than high school  2485 (75.2)  1542 (24.8) 0.92 (0.75 to 1.13) .44
Household income
 Low (<$40000) 504 (71.9)  197 (28.1) 1.0 (reference)
 Middle ($40K-$100K) 1409 (76.8) 426 (23.2) 1.19 (0.95 to 1.49) .12
 High (>$100K) 546 (81.0)  128 (19.0) 1.58 (1.17 to 2.11) .002
 Unknown 717 (70.6)  299 (29.4) 1.52 (0.99 to 2.32) .06
Region
 Northeast 600 (80.6) 144 (19.3) 1.0 (reference)
 West 617 (69.5) 271 (30.5) 0.70 (0.53 to 0.93) .01
 Midwest  709 (79.6) 182 (20.4) 0.88 (0.67 to 1.17) .38
 South  1249 (73.5) 450 (26.5) 0.71 (0.55 to 0.91) .006

* AI-brand = brand name aromatase inhibitor; AI-generic = generic aromatase inhibitor; CI = confidence interval; ETG = episode treatment group.