Table 2.

Comparison of treatment persistence and adherence among propensity-matched cohorts

Variables	Adults a (n = 6689)	Elderly b (n = 6689)	Very elderly c (n = 6689)	p-value*	Post hoc†
Treatment duration, days, mean (SD)	277.1 (122.8)	280.6 (123.3)	267.6 (127.2)	<0.0001	a,b > c
Treatment persistence rate, n (%)
at the first 3 months	5753 (86.0)	5764 (86.2)	5663 (84.7)	0.024	b > c
at the first 6 months	4731 (70.7)	4754 (71.1)	4473 (66.9)	<0.0001	a, b > c
at the first 9 months	4422 (66.1)	4532 (67.8)	4207 (62.9)	<0.0001	a, b > c
at the first 12 months	4179 (62.5)	4364 (65.2)	3979 (59.5)	<0.0001	b > a > c
Medication possession ratio, mean (SD)	0.76 (0.30)	0.79 (0.29)	0.75 (0.30)	<0.0001	b > a, c
Treatment adherence rate, n (%)	4290 (64.1)	4542 (67.9)	4135 (62.8)	<0.0001	b > a > c

^*Analysis of variance test or chi-squared test of the three groups

^†Bonferroni correction (p < 0.015) with student’s t-test or chi-squared test

^aAdult cohort ^bElderly cohort ^cVery elderly cohort