Table 2.

Clinical characteristics of the study sample, Bern, Switzerland, year 2012

Chronic condition according to PCG	Total	Social assistance recipients	Non-recipients	Difference (95% confidence interval)	pa)
n	13,492	391	13,101
proportion	1.000	.029	.971
Acid related disorders (in %)	.150	.253	.147	.106 (0.062, 0.149)	***
Bone diseases (in %)	.006	.010	.006	.004
Cancer (in %)	.009	.013	.008	.004
Cardiovascular diseases (in %)	.124	.146	.124	.022
Dementia (in %)	.008	.005	.008	-0.003
Diabetes mellitus (in %)	.027	.036	.026	.010
Epilepsy (in %)	.021	.051	.020	.031 (0.009, 0.053)	***
Glaucoma (in %)	.009	.008	.009	-0.001
Gout, Hyperuricaemia (in %)	.006	.010	.005	.005
HIV (in %)	.004	.005	.004	.001
Hyperlipidaemia (in %)	.054	.064	.054	.010
Intestinal inflammatory diseases (in %)	.004	.008	.004	.004
Iron deficiency, anaemia (in %)	.036	.051	.035	.016
Migraines (in %)	.011	.015	.011	.004
Pain (in %)	.222	.399	.217	.182 (0.133, 0.231)	***
Parkinson’s disease (in %)	.002	.005	.002	.003
Psychological disorders (in %)	.137	.251	.133	.118 (0.074, 0.161)	***
Psychoses (in %)	.024	.090	.022	.067 (0.039, 0.095)	***
Respiratory illness (in %)	.073	.100	.072	.028 (-0.002, 0.058)	*
Rheumatologic conditions (in %)	.290	.453	.285	.168 (0.118, 0.218)	***
Thyroid disorders (in %)	.030	.015	.030	-0.015
Tuberculosis (in %)	.001	.000	.001	-0.001
Chronic conditions (mean)b)	2.5	3.0	2.4	0.5 (0.3, 0.8)	***
Proportion with values (%)	.506	.668	.501	.167

PCG denotes Pharmaceutical Cost Groups.

^*P < 0.10,

** P < 0.05,

^***P < 0.01.

^a)Significance level: Chi-square-test was used for differences in the categorical variables.

^b)For persons with at least 1 chronic condition.