Table 1.
Population Characteristics, n = 141,711*
| n (%) or mean (SD) | P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No marijuana policy at index, n = 80,955 (57.1%) | Medical marijuana policy only at index, n = 56,494 (39.9%) | Medical and recreational marijuana policy at index, n = 4,262 (3.0%) | ||
| Demographic information | ||||
| Gender | ||||
| Female | 45,851 (56.6%) | 31,422 (55.6%) | 2451 (57.5%) | < 0.001 |
| Mean age (years) (SD) | 45.8 (12.2) | 45.5 (12.1) | 45.8 (12.3)† | < 0.001 |
| Age group (%) | < 0.001 | |||
| 18–24 years | 6669 (8.2%) | 4795 (8.5%) | 340 (8.0%) | |
| 25–34 years | 9544 (11.8%) | 6504 (11.5%) | 545 (12.8%) | |
| 35–44 years | 16,528 (20.4%) | 11,671 (20.7%) | 854 (20.0%) | |
| 45–54 years | 23,340 (28.8%) | 17,486 (31.1%) | 1190 (27.9%) | |
| 55–62 years | 24,874 (30.7%) | 16,028 (28.4%) | 1333 (31.3%) | |
| Region | < 0.001 | |||
| Northeast | 4170 (5.2%) | 23,025 (40.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| Midwest | 27,255 (33.7%) | 9574 (17.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| South | 47,920 (59.2%) | 3200 (5.7%) | 48 (1.1%) | |
| West | 1610 (2.0%) | 20,695 (36.6%) | 4214 (98.9%) | |
| New prescription pain treatment | 48,217 (59.6%) | 36,188 (64.1%) | 2580 (60.5%) | < 0.001 |
| Index pain prescription pharmacy information | ||||
| Pharmacy out of state | 10,056 (12.4%) | 5622 (10.0%) | 728 (17.1%) | < 0.001 |
| Prescriber out of state | 11,215 (13.9%) | 7639 (13.5%) | 749 (17.6%) | < 0.001 |
| Benzodiazepine: index period | 1188 (1.5%) | 794 (1.4%) | 91 (2.1%) | < 0.001 |
| Benzodiazepine: post period | 9210 (11.4%) | 5977 (10.6%) | 598 (14.0%) | < 0.001 |
| Muscle relaxant: index period | 8430 (10.4%) | 5306 (9.4%) | 387 (9.1%) | < 0.001 |
| Muscle relaxant: post period | 28,135 (34.8%) | 16,513 (29.2%) | 1410 (33.1%) | < 0.001 |
| Disease burden—unique GPI-2 count | ||||
| Mean disease burden (SD) | 10.1 (5.4) | 9.0 (5.0)‡ | 9.1 (5.2)§ | < 0.001 |
| Mental health treatment indicator | 31,922 (39.4%) | 19,889 (35.2%) | 1671 (39.2%) | < 0.001 |
*All data were statistically significant at the P < 0.001 across groups, except for cells marked with a note indicating otherwise. Region is based on US Census regions. Disease burden was defined as a unique count of 2-digit GPIs used by the patient, indicating the number of unique drug groups for which the patient had a prescription claim in the study period. Mental health treatment indicator was defined as having a prescription claim for a mental health medication or medical claim with a diagnosis code for any mental health condition in the follow-up period
†Not significantly different from no marijuana policy or from medical marijuana policy only at index
‡Not significantly different from medical and recreational marijuana policy at index
§Not significantly different from medical marijuana policy only at index
GPI generic product identifier, OOP out-of-pocket, SD standard deviation