Table 3.

Multivariate adjusted comparison of health services utilization in adherent vs. non‐adherent patients (n = 1217a)

Measure	Adherent patients MPR ≥ 80% (n = 1005) Median (IQR)	Non‐adherent patients MPR < 80% (n = 212) Median (IQR)	P‐value	Adjusted difference between non‐adherent vs. adherent patients (95% CI)	P‐value
Follow‐up (years)	3.07 (1.74; 4.46)	3.42 (1.99; 5.07)	0.007
Number of primary care physician visits per year	17.8 (11.3; 28.2)	15.2 (9.2; 25.0)	0.002	−1.0 (−0.18; −0.01)	0.028
Number of specialist visits per year among patients with at least one visit in follow‐up (n = 1198)	6.7 (3.6; 11.0)	5.0 (3.0; 8.3)	<0.001	−0.16 (−0.27; −0.06)	0.030
≥1 hospitalization per year during follow‐up, % (n) Odds ratio for ≥1 vs. <1	9.9% (99)	11.8% (25)	0.396	1.94 (1.15; 3.28)	0.013
Number of inpatient days per year among patients with ≥1 hospitalization in follow‐up (n = 476)	2.0 (0.8; 4.9)	2.0 (1.0; 4.5)	0.846	−0.15 (−0.43; −0.14)	0.307

^a 4 patients were hospitalized >20% of the follow‐up period; 56 patients with a single dispense and 62 patients with less than 180 days follow‐up were excluded.

All models were adjusted for follow‐up days, age, sex, disease. Additional factors were included in different models according to their contribution to the model's fit. Among these factors were socio‐demographics, comorbidities, baseline medications, region of residence, smoking and BMI