Table 1.

Characteristics of the Patients, According to Opioid Prescribing Intensity of Physician Seen.^*

Characteristic	Patients Treated by Low-Intensity Prescriber (N = 215,678)†	Patients Treated by High-Intensity Prescriber (N = 161,951)†	P Value‡
Age (yr)	68.8±16.3	68.2±16.4	<0.001
Female sex (%)	64.5	64.5	0.75
White race (%)§	76.6	75.9	0.03
Medicare–Medicaid dual eligibility (%)	49.3	49.6	0.19
Disabled (%)	36.4	37.6	<0.001
Chronic conditions (no.)	3.6±2.3	3.5±2.3	<0.001
Presence of chronic illness (%)
Acute myocardial infarction	49.8	48.5	<0.001
Alzheimer’s dementia	17.5	16.0	<0.001
Atrial fibrillation	13.6	12.7	<0.001
Cerebrovascular disease	17.3	16.3	<0.001
Chronic kidney disease	20.6	20.1	<0.001
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	28.1	27.2	<0.001
Congestive heart failure	30.5	29.0	<0.001
Depression	39.5	39.5	0.94
Diabetes	37.8	37.7	0.69
Hyperlipidemia	69.5	69.1	0.09
Hypertension	78.1	77.4	<0.001
Census region (%)
Northeast	19.8	20.9	0.03
Midwest	24.4	23.2	0.01
South	38.4	38.6	0.82
West	17.3	17.3	0.97

^*Plus–minus values are means ±SD.

^†Within each hospital, high-intensity and low-intensity prescribers were defined as the top (high) or bottom (low) quartile of emergency physician prescribers in terms of opioid prescribing. Since many physicians did not prescribe opioids, some hospitals had many physicians with prescribing rates equal to zero in the low-intensity prescriber group, making it larger overall than the high-intensity group. Low-intensity prescribers included 8297 physicians; the total number (±SD) of patients per physician was 26.0±18.6. High-intensity prescribers included 6133 physicians; the total number of patients per physician was 26.4±18.5.

^‡Unadjusted P values were estimated with the use of Student’s t-test for means or the z-test for comparison of proportions.

^§Race or ethnic group was self-reported.