Table 1.

Patient Characteristics of Both Cohorts

Characteristics	Intervention (N=19,339) % (N)	Comparison (N=3,488) % (N)	P-value
Age, Mean (± SD)	77.79 (6.7)	62.8 (1.3)	<0.001
Female	71.7 (13,856)	64.3 (2,242)	<0.001
Any comorbidity	90.4 (17,481)	85.2 (2,971)	<0.001
Comorbidity, excluding hypertension			<0.001
None	22.9 (4,437)	27.9 (972)
psychiatric condition only	4.6 (881)	6.8 (237)
medical condition only	56.2 (10,869)	48.0 (1,674)
Both	16.3 (3,152)	18.4 (605)
Any psychiatric condition	20.9 (4,033)	24.1 (842)	<0.001
Substance abuse	1.7 (317)	1.6 (55)	0.79
Depression	15.3 (2,950)	14.8 (515)	0.46
Psychoses	7.8 (1,502)	12.5 (437)	<0.001
Any medical condition, excluding hypertension	72.5 (14,021)	65.3 (2,279)	<0.001
Anemias	15.4 (2,968)	13.3 (462)	0.001
Rheumatoid arthritis/collagen vascular disease	5.0 (962)	5.4 (187)	0.014
Congestive heart failure	12.4 (2,388)	5.5 (193)	<0.001
Chronic pulmonary disease	21.9 (4,228)	20.8 (726)	0.17
Diabetes	21.0 (4,058)	21.0 (732)	0.997
Hypertension	71.3 (13,784)	60.2 (2,099)	<0.001
Hypothyroidism	19.7 (3,807)	17.0 (592)	<0.001
Ulcer/Liver problem	1.7 (319)	2.7 (94)	<0.001
Lymphoma/Tumor/Metastatic cancer	12.6 (2,437)	11.8 (412)	0.19
Paralysis/Other neurological disorders	8.3 (1,600)	4.6 (160)	<0.001
Obesity	3.2 (616)	3.8 (131)	0.08
Peripheral vascular disease	12.0 (2,328)	7.4 (259)	<0.001
Pulmonary circulation disease	1.9 (372)	1.5 (51)	0.06
Renal failure	3.6 (689)	1.9 (67)	<0.001
Valvular disease	9.5 (1,838)	10.4 (364)	0.09
Weight loss	4.1 (789)	2.9 (101)	0.001

Intervention cohort refers to group of elderly Medicare Advantage patients (subject to Medicare Part D BZD exclusion), and comparison cohort refers to group of near-elderly patients with managed care insurance (not subject to Medicare Part D BZD exclusion).