Table 1. Physician and patient characteristics of older adults with dementia and initiated cholinesterase inhibitor, by physician speciality.
| Characteristic | Overall | Family Medicine | Dementia Specialist (Geriatric Medicine, Psychiatry, or Neurology) |
Non-Dementia Specialist | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female Physician (n = 3,443) |
Male Physician (n = 5,811) |
SDif | Female Physician (n = 2,979) |
Male Physician (n = 4,739) |
SDif | Female Physician (n = 253) |
Male Physician (n = 486) |
SDif | Female Physician (n = 211) |
Male Physician (n = 586) |
SDif | |
| Physicians | ||||||||||||
| Age in years | ||||||||||||
| Median(IQR) | 49 (41–58) | 58 (48–66) | 0.67 | 49 (40–58) | 58 (49–67) | 0.69 | 50 (42–58) | 58 (47–66) | 0.55 | 47 (40–58) | 56 (45–66) | 0.57 |
| Years in practice | ||||||||||||
| Median(IQR) | 22 (13–30) | 30 (22–40) | 0.66 | 22 (13–30) | 30 (22–40) | 0.67 | 22 (14–30) | 30 (21–40) | 0.63 | 21 (13–30) | 29 (18–40) | 0.6 |
| Canadian medical graduate | 2,504 (72.7%) | 4,139 (71.2%) | 0.03 | 2,198 (73.8%) | 3,491 (73.7%) | 0 | 172 (68.0%) | 265 (54.5%) | 0.28 | 134 (63.5%) | 383 (65.4%) | 0.04 |
| Location of practice: | ||||||||||||
| Missing | 44 (1.3%) | 54 (0.9%) | 0.03 | 38 (1.3%) | 46 (1.0%) | 0.03 | < = 5 (1.6%) | < = 5 (0.6%) | 0.09 | < = 5 (0.9%) | < = 5 (0.9%) | 0.01 |
| Urban | 3,068 (89.1%) | 5,116 (88.0%) | 0.03 | 2,616 (87.8%) | 4,072 (85.9%) | 0.06 | 247 (97.6%) | 477 (98.1%) | 0.04 | 205 (97.2%) | 567 (96.8%) | 0.02 |
| Rural | 331 (9.6%) | 641 (11.0%) | 0.05 | 325 (10.9%) | 621 (13.1%) | 0.07 | < = 5 (0.8%) | 6 (1.2%) | 0.04 | < = 5 (1.9%) | 14 (2.4%) | 0.03 |
| Number of patients initiated cholinesterase inhibitor | ||||||||||||
| Median(IQR) | 3 (1–6) | 4 (1–9) | 0.25 | 3 (1–6) | 4 (2–9) | 0.4 | 7 (1–31) | 4 (1–19) | 0.2 | 1 (1–3) | 1 (1–2) | 0.22 |
| Dementia Patients | ||||||||||||
| Number of patients | N = 23,139 | N = 49,972 | N = 13,655 | N = 33,945 | N = 8,522 | N = 14,315 | N = 962 | N = 1,712 | ||||
| Sex | ||||||||||||
| Female | 15,176 (65.6%) | 28,396 (56.8%) | 0.18 | 9,443 (69.2%) | 19,439 (57.3%) | 0.25 | 5,171 (60.7%) | 8,003 (55.9%) | 0.1 | 562 (58.4%) | 954 (55.7%) | 0.05 |
| Age, years | ||||||||||||
| 66–69 | 1,204 (5.2%) | 2,586 (5.2%) | 0 | 605 (4.4%) | 1,429 (4.2%) | 0.01 | 565 (6.6%) | 1,073 (7.5%) | 0.03 | 34 (3.5%) | 84 (4.9%) | 0.07 |
| 70–74 | 2,920 (12.6%) | 6,113 (12.2%) | 0.01 | 1,561 (11.4%) | 3,751 (11.1%) | 0.01 | 1,219 (14.3%) | 2,167 (15.1%) | 0.02 | 140 (14.6%) | 195 (11.4%) | 0.09 |
| 75–79 | 5,156 (22.3%) | 10,965 (21.9%) | 0.01 | 2,891 (21.2%) | 7,121 (21.0%) | 0 | 2,017 (23.7%) | 3,470 (24.2%) | 0.01 | 248 (25.8%) | 374 (21.8%) | 0.09 |
| 80–84 | 6,654 (28.8%) | 14,239 (28.5%) | 0.01 | 3,944 (28.9%) | 9,798 (28.9%) | 0 | 2,453 (28.8%) | 3,947 (27.6%) | 0.03 | 257 (26.7%) | 494 (28.9%) | 0.05 |
| 85–89 | 5,207 (22.5%) | 11,302 (22.6%) | 0 | 3,256 (23.8%) | 8,125 (23.9%) | 0 | 1,741 (20.4%) | 2,777 (19.4%) | 0.03 | 210 (21.8%) | 400 (23.4%) | 0.04 |
| 90+ | 1,998 (8.6%) | 4,767 (9.5%) | 0.03 | 1,398 (10.2%) | 3,721 (11.0%) | 0.02 | 527 (6.2%) | 881 (6.2%) | 0 | 73 (7.6%) | 165 (9.6%) | 0.07 |
| Low-income senior | 5,005 (21.6%) | 10,892 (21.8%) | 0 | 2,980 (21.8%) | 7,463 (22.0%) | 0 | 1,761 (20.7%) | 3,010 (21.0%) | 0.01 | 264 (27.4%) | 419 (24.5%) | 0.07 |
| Rural residence | 2,734 (11.8%) | 6,502 (13.0%) | 0.04 | 2,209 (16.2%) | 5,344 (15.7%) | 0.01 | 460 (5.4%) | 1,051 (7.3%) | 0.08 | 65 (6.8%) | 107 (6.3%) | 0.02 |
| Time since the first documentation of dementia prior to cohort entry | ||||||||||||
| 0 days (same day as cohort entry) | 12,348 (53.4%) | 29,914 (59.9%) | 0.13 | 8,020 (58.7%) | 22,173 (65.3%) | 0.14 | 3,851 (45.2%) | 6,776 (47.3%) | 0.04 | 477 (49.6%) | 965 (56.4%) | 0.14 |
| 1–179 days | 5,570 (24.1%) | 9,894 (19.8%) | 0.1 | 2,911 (21.3%) | 5,605 (16.5%) | 0.12 | 2,392 (28.1%) | 3,882 (27.1%) | 0.02 | 267 (27.8%) | 407 (23.8%) | 0.09 |
| 180–364 days | 1,481 (6.4%) | 2,649 (5.3%) | 0.05 | 697 (5.1%) | 1,485 (4.4%) | 0.03 | 725 (8.5%) | 1,083 (7.6%) | 0.03 | 59 (6.1%) | 81 (4.7%) | 0.06 |
| 1–2 years | 1,368 (5.9%) | 2,642 (5.3%) | 0.03 | 683 (5.0%) | 1,550 (4.6%) | 0.02 | 624 (7.3%) | 1,007 (7.0%) | 0.01 | 61 (6.3%) | 85 (5.0%) | 0.06 |
| 2+ years | 2,372 (10.3%) | 4,873 (9.8%) | 0.02 | 1,344 (9.8%) | 3,132 (9.2%) | 0.02 | 930 (10.9%) | 1,567 (10.9%) | 0 | 98 (10.2%) | 174 (10.2%) | 0 |
| Aggregated diagnosis groups (ADGs) | ||||||||||||
| 0–4 | 2,593 (11.2%) | 6,304 (12.6%) | 0.04 | 1,799 (13.2%) | 4,859 (14.3%) | 0.03 | 729 (8.6%) | 1,290 (9.0%) | 0.02 | 65 (6.8%) | 155 (9.1%) | 0.09 |
| 5–9 | 9,949 (43.0%) | 22,373 (44.8%) | 0.04 | 6,000 (43.9%) | 15,409 (45.4%) | 0.03 | 3,592 (42.1%) | 6,304 (44.0%) | 0.04 | 357 (37.1%) | 660 (38.6%) | 0.03 |
| 10+ | 10,597 (45.8%) | 21,295 (42.6%) | 0.06 | 5,856 (42.9%) | 13,677 (40.3%) | 0.05 | 4,201 (49.3%) | 6,721 (47.0%) | 0.05 | 540 (56.1%) | 897 (52.4%) | 0.08 |
| Concurrent medications | ||||||||||||
| Median (IQR) | 4 (2–7) | 4 (2–7) | 0 | 4 (2–7) | 5 (2–7) | 0.01 | 4 (2–7) | 4 (2–7) | 0.03 | 5 (3–8) | 5 (3–7) | 0.05 |
| 0 (ChEI only) | 1,281 (5.5%) | 2,990 (6.0%) | 0.02 | 706 (5.2%) | 1,921 (5.7%) | 0.02 | 532 (6.2%) | 987 (6.9%) | 0.03 | 43 (4.5%) | 82 (4.8%) | 0.02 |
| 1–4 | 10,413 (45.0%) | 22,279 (44.6%) | 0.01 | 6,164 (45.1%) | 14,962 (44.1%) | 0.02 | 3,886 (45.6%) | 6,665 (46.6%) | 0.02 | 363 (37.7%) | 652 (38.1%) | 0.01 |
| 5–9 | 9,320 (40.3%) | 20,157 (40.3%) | 0 | 5,511 (40.4%) | 13,842 (40.8%) | 0.01 | 3,408 (40.0%) | 5,545 (38.7%) | 0.03 | 401 (41.7%) | 770 (45.0%) | 0.07 |
| 10+ | 2,125 (9.2%) | 4,546 (9.1%) | 0 | 1,274 (9.3%) | 3,220 (9.5%) | 0.01 | 696 (8.2%) | 1,118 (7.8%) | 0.01 | 155 (16.1%) | 208 (12.1%) | 0.11 |
| ChEI type | ||||||||||||
| Donepezil | 17,870 (77.2%) | 38,572 (77.2%) | 0 | 10,948 (80.2%) | 26,822 (79.0%) | 0.03 | 6,176 (72.5%) | 10,467 (73.1%) | 0.01 | 746 (77.5%) | 1,283 (74.9%) | 0.06 |
| Galantamine | 4,244 (18.3%) | 9,653 (19.3%) | 0.02 | 2,285 (16.7%) | 6,042 (17.8%) | 0.03 | 1,782 (20.9%) | 3,251 (22.7%) | 0.04 | 177 (18.4%) | 360 (21.0%) | 0.07 |
| Rivastigmine | 1,025 (4.4%) | 1,747 (3.5%) | 0.05 | 422 (3.1%) | 1,081 (3.2%) | 0.01 | 564 (6.6%) | 597 (4.2%) | 0.11 | 39 (4.1%) | 69 (4.0%) | 0 |
SDif = Standardized difference, IQR = Interquartile range, ChEI = Cholinesterase inhibitor