Table 1.
Participant characteristics overall and by polypharmacy group
| Polypharmacy group* | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (N = 372) | Low (N = 114) | Medium (N = 134) | High (N = 124) | p value† | ||
| Sex | Male | 207 (56) | 61 (54) | 81 (60) | 65 (52) | 0.370 |
| Female | 165 (44) | 53 (46) | 53 (40) | 59 (48) | ||
| Race | White | 307 (83) | 95 (83) | 114 (85) | 98 (79) | 0.538 |
| Black | 54 (15) | 17 (15) | 17 (13) | 20 (16) | ||
| Other | 11 (3) | 2 (2) | 3 (2) | 6 (5) | ||
| Ethnicity | Hispanic | 16 (4) | 4 (4) | 5 (4) | 7 (6) | 0.769 |
| Non-Hispanic | 354 (95) | 109 (96) | 128 (96) | 117 (94) | ||
| Unknown | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | ||
| Age | 44–59 | 36 (10) | 9 (8) | 12 (9) | 15 (12) | 0.861 |
| 60–74 | 160 (43) | 49 (43) | 55 (41) | 56 (45) | ||
| 75–89 | 142 (38) | 45 (39) | 53 (40) | 44 (35) | ||
| ≥ 90 | 34 (9) | 11 (10) | 14 (10) | 9 (7) | ||
| Education | < HS Graduate | 51 (14) | 16 (14) | 15 (11) | 20 (16) | 0.479 |
| HS Graduate | 189 (51) | 56 (49) | 78 (58) | 55 (44) | ||
| College Graduate | 128 (34) | 41 (36) | 40 (30) | 47 (38) | ||
| Unknown | 4 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 2 (2) | ||
| Insurance | Medicare | 275 (74) | 83 (73) | 100 (75) | 92 (74) | 0.949 |
| Medicaid | 31 (8) | 9 (8) | 11 (8) | 11 (9) | ||
| Private | 42 (11) | 15 (13) | 14 (10) | 13 (10) | ||
| Other | 21 (6) | 7 (6) | 8 (6) | 6 (5) | ||
| Uninsured | 3 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 2 (2) | ||
| Primary DX | Cancer | 193 (52) | 72 (63) | 64 (48) | 57 (46) | 0.015 |
| Non-cancer | 179 (48) | 42 (37) | 70 (52) | 67 (54) | ||
| Enrolled | No | 236 (63) | 77 (68) | 85 (63) | 74 (60) | 0.167 |
| In Hospice | Yes | 132 (35) | 34 (30) | 48 (36) | 50 (40) | |
| Unknown | 4 (1) | 3 (3) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | ||
| Performance status (AKPS)‡ | 53.58 ± 13.09 | 55.00 ± 13.39 | 54.55 ± 12.24 | 51.21 ± 13.47 | 0.046 | |
| Comorbidities (CCI) ‡ | 4.82 ± 2.75 | 4.66 ± 2.75 | 4.99 ± 2.74 | 4.78 ± 2.78 | 0.625 | |
All numbers are N (%) except where indicated otherwise
HS, high school; AKPS, Australia-Modified Karnofsky Performance Status; CCI Charlson Comorbidity Index
*Low polypharmacy = 0–8 medications; medium polypharmacy = 9–13 medications; high polypharmacy = ≥ 14 medications
†Pearson’s chi-square test or one-way ANOVA test
‡Mean ± SD