Table 3. Baseline Characteristics of Elderly Ontarians with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation.
| Income Quintiles Based on Median Neighborhood Income (Lowest to Highest) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | All Participants | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| No. of participants | 34797 | 6340 | 7245 | 6827 | 7023 | 7362 |
| Demographics | ||||||
| Age, yearsa | 78.6 | 78.7 (6.8) | 78.7 (6.6) | 78.4 (6.7) | 78.4 (6.8) | 78.8 (6.9) |
| Female (%) | 17156 (49.3) | 3545 (54.5) | 3716 (51.3) | 3226 (47.3) | 3270 (46.6) | 3399 (46.2) |
| Rural residence (%) | 5081 (14.6) | 1074 (16.9) | 1071 (14.8) | 1037 (15.2) | 968 (13.8) | 931 (12.6) |
| Comorbidity–past 3 years | ||||||
| MI (%) | 1251 (3.6) | 281 (4.4) | 246 (3.4) | 242 (3.5) | 274 (3.5) | 208 (2.8) |
| CVD (%) | 2480 (7.1) | 488 (7.7) | 522 (7.2) | 504 (7.4) | 497 (7.1) | 469 (6.4) |
| PVD (%) | 765 (2.2) | 155 (2.4) | 149 (2.1) | 168 (2.5) | 148 (2.1) | 145 (2.0) |
| Hepatic disease (%) | 503 (1.4) | 82 (1.3) | 111 (1.5) | 98 (1.4) | 108 (1.5) | 104 (1.4) |
| Renal disease (%) | 3969 (11.4) | 796 (12.6) | 865 (11.9) | 787 (11.5) | 786 (11.2) | 735 (10.0) |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 11983 (34.4) | 2454 (38.7) | 2653 (36.6) | 2410 (35.3) | 2303 (32.8) | 2163 (29.4) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Indexb | ||||||
| Charlson 0 (%) | 5886 (16.9) | 1006 (15.9) | 1224 (16.9) | 1155 (16.9) | 1193 (17.0) | 1308 (17.8) |
| Charlson 1 (%) | 4236 (12.2) | 850 (13.4) | 861 (11.9) | 869 (12.7) | 823 (11.7) | 833 (11.3) |
| Charlson ≥ 2 (%) | 5776 (16.6) | 1190 (18.8) | 1279 (17.7) | 1156 (16.9) | 1136 (16.2) | 1015 (13.8) |
| No admission to hospital (%) | 18899 (54.3) | 3294 (52.0) | 3881 (53.6) | 3647 (53.4) | 3871 (55.1) | 4206 (57.1) |
| Specialist Visitc | ||||||
| Cardiologist (%) | 23593 (67.8) | 4146 (65.4) | 4857 (67.0) | 4546 (66.6) | 4859 (69.2) | 5185 (70.4) |
| Neurologist (%) | 3079 (8.8) | 538 (8.5) | 631 (8.7) | 561 (8.2) | 626 (8.9) | 723 (9.8) |
| Medication use in past 120 days | ||||||
| Antiplatelet Drugs | ||||||
| ASA (%) | 344 (1.0) | 83(1.3) | 82 (1.1) | 66 (1.0) | 65 (0.9) | 48 (0.7) |
| Clopidogrel (%) | 954 (2.7) | 163 (2.6) | 205 (2.8) | 200 (2.9) | 207 (2.9) | 179 (2.4) |
| Dipyridamole/ASA (%) | 79 (0.2) | 12 (0.2) | 16 (0.2) | 21 (0.3) | 16 (0.2) | 14 (0.2) |
| Prasugrel (%) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Ticlopidine (%) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| NSAID (%) | 2525 (7.3) | 465 (7.3) | 530 (7.3) | 521 (7.6) | 495 (7.0) | 514 (7.0) |
| Drugs thought to interact with dabigatran | ||||||
| Quinidine (%) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Amiodarone (%) | 2199 (6.3) | 406 (6.4) | 467 (6.4) | 404 (5.9) | 454 (6.5) | 468 (6.4) |
| Ketoconazole (%) | 210 (0.6) | 43 (0.7) | 47 (0.6) | 44 (0.6) | 40 (0.6) | 36 (0.5) |
| Verapamil (%) | 507 (1.5) | 98 (1.5) | 113 (1.6) | 99 (1.5) | 101 (1.4) | 96 (1.3) |
| Rifampicin (%) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Number of Drugs in past 1 yeara | 10.8 | 11.5 (5.5) | 11.0 (5.3) | 10.9 (5.2) | 10.5 (5.0) | 10.1 (4.9) |
Abbreviations: IQ, income quintile; MI, myocardial infarction; CVD, cerebrovascular disease; PVD, peripheral vascular disease, ASA, acetylsalicylic acid, NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
aValues are means (SD).
bCharlson Comorbidity Index–comorbidity measure
c Specialist visit–any cardiologist (or neurologist) visit in the time between Health Canada approval and dabigatran listing on the Ontario Drug Benefit formulary