TABLE 3.
Medication use during follow‐up
| Category | Teriparatide cohort(n = 153 316) | Comparator cohort(n = 613 247) |
|---|---|---|
| Use of teriparatide | ||
| Type of exposure a , n (%) | ||
| Incident | 120 302 (78.5) | — |
| Prevalent | 33 014 (21.5) | — |
| Number of dispensings, mean (SD) | 9.4 (8.43) | — |
| Average days' supply per dispensing episode b , mean (SD) | 33.3 (14.91) | — |
| Duration of exposure (months) c , mean (SD) | 9.5 (8.21) | — |
| Use of other medication | ||
| Use of corticosteroid drugs, n (%) | 68 348 (44.6) | 220 591 (36.0) |
| Among those with at least 1 corticosteroid dispensing, mean (SD): | ||
| Number of dispensings per patient | 7.7 (12.91) | 4.9 (8.90) |
| Duration of exposure (months) d | 7.0 (14.37) | 3.6 (9.57) |
| Use of other osteoporosis drugs, n (%) | 62 616 (40.8) | 139 984 (22.8) |
| Among those with at least 1 other osteoporosis drug dispensing, mean (SD): | ||
| Number of dispensings per patient | 14.4 (17.16) | 15.6 (17.60) |
| Duration of exposure (months) d | 18.6 (19.41) | 20.2 (20.10) |
| Medications by AHFS therapeutic class, n (%) | ||
| Antihistamine drugs | 16 404 (10.7) | 54 167 (8.8) |
| Anti‐infective agents | 133 581 (87.1) | 502 006 (81.9) |
| Antineoplastic agents | 24 973 (16.3) | 66 401 (10.8) |
| Autonomic drugs | 90 945 (59.3) | 317 113 (51.7) |
| Blood derivatives | n < 11 | n < 11 |
| Blood formation, coagulation, and thrombosis agents | 50 750 (33.1) | 200 044 (32.6) |
| Cardiovascular drugs | 131 191 (85.6) | 548 074 (89.4) |
| Central nervous system agents | 138 267 (90.2) | 524 750 (85.6) |
| Diagnostic agents | 444 (0.3) | 5043 (0.8) |
| Electrolytic, caloric, and water balance | 91 338 (59.6) | 400 776 (65.4) |
| Enzymes | 4608 (3.0) | 15 716 (2.6) |
| Respiratory tract agents | 18 954 (12.4) | 55 747 (9.1) |
| Eye, ear, nose, and throat preparations | 97 026 (63.3) | 348 122 (56.8) |
| Gastrointestinal drugs | 120 292 (78.5) | 434 154 (70.8) |
| Gold compounds | 20 (0.0) | 15 (0.0) |
| Heavy‐metal antagonists | 75 (0.0) | 153 (0.0) |
| Hormones and synthetic substitutes | 114 393 (74.6) | 441 357 (72.0) |
| Local anesthetics | 10 937 (7.1) | 33 686 (5.5) |
| Oxytocics | n < 11 | n < 11 |
| Serums, toxoids, and vaccines | 22 386 (14.6) | 70 473 (11.5) |
| Skin and mucous membrane agents | 103 756 (67.7) | 358 596 (58.5) |
| Smooth muscle relaxants | 27 786 (18.1) | 88 290 (14.4) |
| Vitamins | 7733 (5.0) | 22 988 (3.7) |
| Miscellaneous therapeutic agents | 76 531 (49.9) | 213 086 (34.7) |
| Unclassified | 220 (0.1) | 513 (0.1) |
Abbreviations: AHFS = American Hospital Formulary Services.
Note: To protect patient privacy, non‐zero cell counts <11 cannot be disclosed for Medicare data.
If the patient did not have a previous prescription for teriparatide before the index date, the exposure was classified as incident; if the patient had a previous prescription for teriparatide before the index date, the exposure was classified as prevalent.
For each teriparatide user, the per‐episode average was calculated using all dispensings of teriparatide during follow‐up.
For each teriparatide user, the duration of exposure was calculated as the sum of the days' supply of all teriparatide dispensings during follow‐up, without regard to overlaps or gaps.
For each patient, the duration of exposure was calculated as the sum of the days' supply of all dispensings of the medication of interest during follow‐up, without regard to overlaps or gaps.