Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics of Patients who Engaged in Buprenorphine Treatment from 2007 to 2017
| Vital status | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline characteristics | All patients (n = 5948) | Alive (n = 5284) | Deceased (n = 664) | p value |
| Sociodemographic features | ||||
| Age, mean (SD) | 38.2 (13.1) | 37.6 (12.9) | 43.5 (14.0) | < 0.0001 |
| Sex, n (%) | ||||
| Male | 3550 (59.7) | 3116 (59.0) | 433 (65.2) | 0.002 |
| Race, n (%) | 0.01 | |||
| White | 4800 (80.7) | 4257 (80.6) | 544 (81.8) | |
| Black | 249 (4.2) | 212 (4.0) | 37 (5.6) | |
| Hispanic | 224 (3.8) | 195 (3.7) | 29 (4.4) | |
| Other | 133 (2.2) | 127 (2.4) | 6 (0.9) | |
| Unknown | 542 (9.1) | 493 (9.3) | 49 (7.4) | |
| Preferred language, n (%) | 0.3 | |||
| English | 5351 (90.0) | 4760 (90.1) | 591 (89.0) | |
| Non-English | 79 (1.3) | 66 (1.2) | 13 (2.0) | |
| Unknown | 518 (8.7) | 458 (8.7) | 60 (9.0) | |
| Housing status, n (%) | ||||
| Homeless | 492 (8.3) | 400 (7.6) | 92 (13.9) | < 0.0001 |
| Clinical characteristics | ||||
| Chronic comorbid conditions, n (%) | ||||
| Coronary artery disease | 246 (4.1) | 186 (3.5) | 60 (9.0) | < 0.0001 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 147 (2.5) | 122 (2.3) | 25 (3.8) | 0.03 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 247 (4.2) | 185 (3.5) | 62 (9.3) | < 0.0001 |
| Chronic lung disease | 1539 (25.9) | 1282 (24.3) | 257 (38.7) | < 0.0001 |
| Congestive heart failure | 408 (6.9) | 295 (5.6) | 113 (17.0) | < 0.0001 |
| Hepatitis C infection | 1566 (26.3) | 1290 (24.4) | 276 (41.7) | < 0.0001 |
| HIV | 126 (2.1) | 95 (1.8) | 31 (4.7) | < 0.0001 |
| Liver disease | 1171 (19.7) | 952 (18.0) | 219 (33.0) | < 0.0001 |
| Malignancy | 435 (7.3) | 341 (6.5) | 94 (14.2) | < 0.0001 |
| Serious bacterial infection*, n (%) | 468 (7.9) | 371 (7.0) | 97 (14.6) | < 0.0001 |
| Comorbid substance use disorders, n (%) | ||||
| Alcohol use disorder | 3017 (50.7) | 2613 (49.5) | 404 (60.8) | < 0.0001 |
| Other substance use disorder† | 3750 (63.0) | 3304 (62.5) | 446 (67.2) | 0.006 |
| Medications, n (%) | ||||
| Anti-depressant | 2313 (38.9) | 2019 (38.2) | 294 (44.3) | 0.003 |
| Anti-psychotic | 1247 (21.0) | 1054 (19.9) | 193 (29.1) | < 0.0001 |
| Benzodiazepine | 2593 (43.6) | 2257 (42.7) | 336 (50.6) | 0.0001 |
| Opioid‡ | 1752 (29.5) | 1472 (27.9) | 280 (42.2) | < 0.0001 |
| Naloxone | 3976 (66.8) | 3487 (66.0) | 489 (73.6) | < 0.0001 |
| Healthcare use factors | ||||
| Buprenorphine encounter site§, n (%) | 0.15 | |||
| Outpatient only | 2797 (47.0) | 2497 (47.3) | 300 (45.2) | |
| Outpatient then inpatient | 175 (2.9) | 146 (2.8) | 29 (4.4) | |
| Inpatient only | 2774 (46.6) | 2466 (46.7) | 308 (46.4) | |
| Inpatient then outpatient | 161 (2.7) | 140 (2.6) | 21 (3.2) | |
| Unknown | 41 (0.7) | 35 (0.7) | 6 (0.9) | |
| Study entry year, n (%) | < 0.0001 | |||
| 2007–2009 | 620 (10.4) | 516 (9.8) | 104 (15.7) | |
| 2010–2013 | 1950 (32.8) | 1687 (31.9) | 263 (39.6) | |
| 2014–2017 | 3378 (56.8) | 3081 (58.3) | 297 (44.7) | |
*Includes endocarditis, epidural abscess, osteomyelitis, and septic arthritis
†Includes amphetamine use disorder, hallucinogen use disorder, sedative use disorder, and other/polysubstance use disorder
‡Excludes buprenorphine
§Initial buprenorphine encounter site based on the first two encounters with buprenorphine on the active medication list