Table 2:

Characteristics of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors at baseline years (2010, 2012, 2016) – Medicare Current Beneficiary Surveys, 2010–2017.

	Citalopram or escitalopram (n=460)			Sertraline (n=294)
Demographic characteristics	na	Weighted %b	95% CIc	na	Weighted %b	95% CIc
Age
65–74	222	58.0	54.8–61.1	140	57.1	52.1–62
75–84	170	31.3	28.3–34.5	111	31.7	27.6–36.1
85+	68	10.7	9.2–12.4	43	11.3	8.9–14.1
Sex
Male	106	22.6	19.8–25.7	85	28.7	24.9–32.8
Female	354	77.4	74.3–80.2	209	71.3	67.2–75.1
History of falls
No	262	58.3	55.0–61.6	158	54.8	50.1–59.4
Yes	181	41.7	38.4–45.0	128	45.2	40.6–49.9
Race
Non-Hispanic White	412	89.5	87.0–91.6	264	86.3	81.7–89.9
Non-Hispanic Black	25	6.0	4.4–8.1	*	*	*
Hispanic	*	*	*	*	*	*
Other/Unknown	*	*	*	*	*	*
Self-reported health status
Excellent	41	9.8	7.4–12.7	36	12.9	10.0–16.5
Very Good	140	32.2	28.6–36.1	76	26.1	22.3–30.4
Good	149	33.5	29.7–37.4	88	32.9	28.3–37.9
Fair	94	19.3	16.7–22.1	60	18.6	15.4–22.3
Poor	25	5.3	3.8–7.3	26	9.4	7.0–12.5
Health Conditions
Depression
No	143	32.1	28.3–36.1	96	33.2	28.3–38.5
Yes	306	67.9	63.9–71.7	192	66.8	61.6–71.7
Diabetes
No	316	69.9	65.2–74.2	191	66.4	61.3–71.2
Yes	133	30.1	25.8–34.8	97	33.6	28.8–38.7
Stroke
No	377	86.0	83.7–88.1	243	83.4	79.5–86.7
Yes	72	14.0	11.9–16.3	45	16.6	13.3–20.5
Number of psychoactive medications d
0–8 (mean)	460	1.32	1.21–1.43	294	1.25	1.10–1.39

^{* =}Data not available due to small sample size

Bold = Chi-square test significant at p<0.05

^an = unweighted number

^b% = weighted percent to the US Medicare population of characteristic

^cCI = 95% confidence interval

^dIncluded opioids, benzodiazepines, sedative-hypnotics (non-benzodiazepines limited to zaleplon, zolpidem, and eszopiclone), antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and other antidepressants (excluding SSRIs).