Table 1.
Demographic and clinical description of study sample during pre-index year
| Characteristics | Total
|
Newly diagnosed
|
Previously diagnosed | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance-naïve
|
Maintenance-experienced
|
|||||||
| N=55,361 | N=21,314 | N=15,688 | N=18,359 | |||||
| Demographic | ||||||||
| Age in years (mean, SD) | 66.25 | 12.3 | 63.30 | 12.6 | 65.89 | 12.3 | 69.99 | 10.7 |
| Age group in years (n, %) | ||||||||
| 40–64 | 27,986 | 50.6% | 13,350 | 62.6% | 8,577 | 54.7% | 6,059 | 33.0% |
| ≥65 | 27,375 | 49.4% | 7,964 | 37.4% | 7,111 | 45.3% | 12,300 | 67.0% |
| Female (n, %) | 29,829 | 53.9% | 11,513 | 54.0% | 8,551 | 54.5% | 9,765 | 53.2% |
| Region (n, %) | ||||||||
| Northeast | 4,851 | 8.8% | 1,990 | 9.3% | 1,243 | 7.9% | 1,618 | 8.8% |
| North Central | 20,010 | 36.1% | 7,176 | 33.7% | 5,409 | 34.5% | 7,425 | 40.4% |
| South | 23,231 | 42.0% | 9,441 | 44.3% | 7,189 | 45.8% | 6,601 | 36.0% |
| West | 7,193 | 13.0% | 2,671 | 12.5% | 1,825 | 11.6% | 2,697 | 14.7% |
| Unknown | 76 | 0.1% | 36 | 0.2% | 22 | 0.1% | 18 | 0.1% |
| Overall disease burden | ||||||||
| CCI (mean, SD) | 1.00 | 1.3 | 0.74 | 1.2 | 1.16 | 1.4 | 1.17 | 1.4 |
| Asthma (n, %) | 8,014 | 14.5% | 1,449 | 6.8% | 2,480 | 15.8% | 4,085 | 22.3% |
| URTI (n, %) | 9,852 | 17.8% | 3,838 | 18.0% | 3,072 | 19.6% | 2,942 | 16.0% |
| LRTI (n, %) | 11,184 | 20.2% | 2,879 | 13.5% | 3,643 | 23.2% | 4,662 | 25.4% |
| CVD (n, %) | 28,689 | 51.8% | 9,504 | 44.6% | 9,232 | 58.8% | 9,953 | 54.2% |
| Depression (n, %) | 5,203 | 9.4% | 1,988 | 9.3% | 1,774 | 11.3% | 1,441 | 7.8% |
| # of unique Rx classes (mean, SD) | 8.06 | 6.7 | 5.79 | 5.8 | 6.59 | 6.7 | 11.96 | 5.8 |
| # of Rx (mean, SD) | 8.96 | 7.6 | 6.26 | 6.5 | 7.16 | 7.5 | 13.63 | 6.8 |
| # of unique 3-digit ICD-9 Dx codes (mean, SD) | 10.22 | 7.1 | 8.79 | 6.9 | 11.57 | 7.4 | 10.72 | 7.0 |
| Reliever medication use | ||||||||
| SABA canister use (n, %) | 13,362 | 24.1% | 1,764 | 8.3% | 2,429 | 15.5% | 9,169 | 49.9% |
| OCS prescription use (n, %) | 12,754 | 23.0% | 2,364 | 11.1% | 2,530 | 16.1% | 7,860 | 42.8% |
| Nebulized IPR use (n, %) | 2,574 | 4.6% | N/A | N/A | 482 | 3.1% | 2,092 | 11.4% |
Abbreviations: CCI, Charlson comorbidity index; CVD, cardiovascular disease; Dx, diagnosis; ICD-9, International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision; IPR, ipratropium or combination ipratropium–albuterol; LRTI, lower respiratory tract infection; N/A, not applicable; OCS, oral corticosteroid; Rx, prescription; SABA, short-acting beta agonist; SD, standard deviation; URTI, upper respiratory tract infection.