Table 1:
Baseline characteristics of community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older enrolled in the 1999–2006 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey stratified by dementia status.
| Dementia (N=871) | No Dementia (N=23,138) | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) (SD) | 81.9 (7.0) | 76.4 (7.0) | <0.001 |
| Female gender (%) | 63.7 | 57.9 | <0.001 |
| Black (%) | 18.7 | 12.7 | <0.001 |
| Annual income less than $10,000 (%) | 32.6 | 20.9 | <0.001 |
| Lives alone (%) | 27.7 | 35.9 | <0.001 |
| Medicaid insurance coverage eligible (%) | 24.8 | 11.2 | <0.001 |
| Sensory impairment | |||
| No vision or hearing impairment | 261 (30.0%) | 10,031 (43.3%) | <0.001 |
| Vision impairment, no hearing impairment | 137 (15.7%) | 3,351 (14.5%) | |
| Hearing impairment, no vision impairment | 210 (24.1%) | 5,644 (24.4%) | |
| Dual sensory impairment | 263 (30.2%) | 4,112 (17.8%) | |
| Comorbidity score, up to 11 points (SD) | 3.2 (1.8) | 2.7 (2.7) | <0.001 |
| Coronary heart disease (%) | 18.4 | 12.9 | <0.001 |
| Hypertension (%) | 65.7 | 63.4 | .18 |
| Heart disease (CHF, valve disease, arrhythmias) (%) | 26.0 | 23.4 | .08 |
| Previous myocardial infarction (%) | 20.3 | 14.4 | <0.001 |
| Stroke (%) | 30.3 | 11.3 | <0.001 |
| Cancer (%) | 18.3 | 20.0 | .21 |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 22.6 | 19.7 | .03 |
| Rheumatoid arthritis (%) | 14.5 | 10.9 | <0.001 |
| Other arthritis (e.g. osteoarthritis) (%) | 63.0 | 61.6 | .40 |
| Osteoporosis (%) | 25.8 | 20.6 | <0.001 |
| Lung disease (emphysema, COPD, asthma) (%) | 16.1 | 14.4 | .17 |
Abbreviations: CHF, congestive heart failure; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; SD, standard deviation