Table 3.
Distribution of selected characteristics 1 year prior to first use of paracetamol and ibuprofen during 2005–2015 among users in the study populations before and after matching on the publication variables propensity score model and the large-scale propensity score model
| Characteristic | Before matching | After matching on publication covariates | After matching on full set of covariates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paracetamol | Ibuprofen | Std. diff | Paracetamol | Ibuprofen | Std. diff | Paracetamol | Ibuprofen | Std. diff | |
| Number | 288,967 | 382,749 | 187,137 | 187,137 | 132,910 | 132,910 | |||
| Female % | 62.9 | 57.8 | 0.105 | 61.5 | 62.5 | − 0.020 | 61.0 | 61.7 | − 0.014 |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 61.2 (20.6) | 46.3 (17.3) | 52.3 (18.9) | 52.0 (18.9) | 52.7 (19.5) | 52.9 (19.3) | |||
| Age, years % | |||||||||
| 15–19 | 2.6 | 5.1 | − 0.133 | 4.0 | 4.1 | − 0.004 | 4.4 | 4.4 | − 0.001 |
| 20–24 | 4.2 | 7.7 | − 0.148 | 6.0 | 6.1 | − 0.005 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 0.005 |
| 25–29 | 4.3 | 7.4 | − 0.132 | 6.1 | 6.3 | − 0.009 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 0.007 |
| 30–34 | 4.4 | 7.9 | − 0.144 | 6.4 | 6.6 | − 0.009 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 0.002 |
| 35–39 | 4.5 | 9.0 | − 0.181 | 6.4 | 6.4 | − 0.002 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 0.009 |
| 40–44 | 4.7 | 9.8 | − 0.200 | 6.6 | 6.5 | 0.003 | 6.8 | 6.5 | 0.010 |
| 45–49 | 4.9 | 9.4 | − 0.175 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 0.006 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 0.008 |
| 50–54 | 5.3 | 8.4 | − 0.125 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 0.007 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 0.006 |
| 55–59 | 6.0 | 7.7 | − 0.070 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 0.004 | 7.3 | 7.4 | − 0.003 |
| 60–64 | 9.4 | 9.7 | − 0.009 | 11.8 | 11.9 | − 0.004 | 11.2 | 11.7 | − 0.013 |
| 65–69 | 9.5 | 6.8 | 0.098 | 10.5 | 10.6 | − 0.004 | 9.9 | 10.4 | − 0.017 |
| 70–74 | 10.0 | 4.8 | 0.201 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 0.001 | 8.4 | 8.7 | − 0.012 |
| 75–79 | 10.2 | 3.2 | 0.282 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 0.005 | 6.5 | 6.7 | − 0.008 |
| 80–84 | 9.4 | 1.9 | 0.331 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 0.003 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 0.004 |
| 85–89 | 6.6 | 0.8 | 0.307 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.005 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 0.010 |
| 90–94 | 3.1 | 0.3 | 0.222 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.006 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.011 |
| 95–99 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.120 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.005 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.009 |
| Index year (%) | |||||||||
| 2005 | 12.7 | 14.1 | − 0.041 | 12.3 | 14.0 | − 0.052 | 13.4 | 13.3 | 0.005 |
| 2006 | 11.2 | 13.0 | − 0.054 | 11.0 | 12.9 | − 0.059 | 12.1 | 11.8 | 0.010 |
| 2007 | 10.2 | 11.8 | − 0.050 | 9.9 | 11.7 | − 0.056 | 10.7 | 10.4 | 0.009 |
| 2008 | 10.3 | 11.2 | − 0.030 | 10.2 | 11.0 | − 0.026 | 10.5 | 10.6 | − 0.004 |
| 2009 | 10.1 | 10.7 | − 0.021 | 10.2 | 10.6 | − 0.015 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 0.004 |
| 2010 | 9.9 | 10.0 | − 0.003 | 10.1 | 9.9 | 0.008 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 0.000 |
| 2011 | 9.5 | 9.2 | 0.010 | 9.5 | 9.1 | 0.015 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 0.002 |
| 2012 | 9.8 | 8.0 | 0.060 | 10.0 | 8.2 | 0.062 | 9.2 | 9.5 | − 0.012 |
| 2013 | 8.9 | 6.7 | 0.081 | 9.1 | 6.9 | 0.079 | 8.1 | 8.3 | − 0.006 |
| 2014 | 7.6 | 5.4 | 0.088 | 7.6 | 5.6 | 0.082 | 6.8 | 7.1 | − 0.011 |
| Conditions, % | |||||||||
| Smoker | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.000 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 0.005 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 0.001 |
| Osteoarthritis | 19.4 | 9.4 | 0.286 | 14.5 | 13.4 | 0.030 | 14.4 | 14.5 | − 0.004 |
| Neoplasm of prostate | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.078 | 0.6 | 0.7 | − 0.016 | 0.7 | 0.7 | − 0.002 |
| Hyperthyroidism | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.031 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.002 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.001 |
| Inflammatory bowel disease | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.055 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.019 | 0.4 | 0.4 | − 0.002 |
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.077 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.024 | 0.6 | 0.7 | − 0.006 |
| Heart failure | 2.3 | 0.2 | 0.192 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.028 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.011 |
| Ischemic heart disease | 3.9 | 0.6 | 0.220 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.021 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.011 |
| Essential hypertension | 16.1 | 7.9 | 0.254 | 11.5 | 11.8 | − 0.009 | 11.7 | 12.1 | − 0.014 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 7.3 | 4.1 | 0.141 | 5.7 | 5.7 | − 0.001 | 5.7 | 5.8 | − 0.005 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0.209 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.015 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.005 |
| Drugs, % | |||||||||
| Cardiac glycosides | 3.0 | 0.2 | 0.229 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.020 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.020 |
| Corticosteroids for systemic use | 17.2 | 10.2 | 0.205 | 13.3 | 13.6 | − 0.011 | 13.0 | 13.1 | − 0.003 |
| Antibacterials for systemic use | 51.7 | 41.7 | 0.201 | 48.4 | 49.0 | − 0.011 | 47.2 | 47.7 | − 0.010 |
| Proton pump inhibitors | 23.8 | 14.1 | 0.250 | 19.5 | 19.6 | − 0.001 | 17.8 | 18.2 | − 0.010 |
| Agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system | 21.5 | 8.6 | 0.365 | 13.5 | 13.5 | − 0.002 | 13.7 | 13.9 | − 0.008 |
| Other NSAIDs and nonsteroidal anti-rheumaticsa | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.015 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.008 | 1.3 | 1.3 | − 0.001 |
| Other analgesicsa | 16.5 | 5.8 | 0.344 | 16.0 | 6.7 | 0.296 | 10.0 | 9.9 | 0.003 |
| Anxiolytics | 7.9 | 5.8 | 0.085 | 7.0 | 7.2 | − 0.008 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 0.001 |
| Hypnotics and sedatives | 9.3 | 4.8 | 0.176 | 7.2 | 6.6 | 0.026 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 0.002 |
| HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors | 18.8 | 8.1 | 0.316 | 12.4 | 12.5 | − 0.001 | 12.6 | 12.8 | − 0.006 |
| Vitamin K antagonists | 7.2 | 0.5 | 0.356 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.056 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.028 |
NSAID nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, SD standard deviation, Std. diff standardized difference
aThese were from the period prior to 12 months prior to index date