Table 2.
Demographic and clinical characteristics - matched populations
| Characteristic, Statistics | Opioid HZ cohort, N = 39,299 |
Non-HZ cohort, N = 196,495 |
|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD) | 51.0 (15.8) | 50.2 (16.7) |
| Male, % | 41.1% | 41.1% |
| Commercial or Medicare payer, % | 91.5% | 91.5% |
| Health plan type, % | ||
| Health maintenance organization | 14.8% | 13.1% |
| Preferred provider organization | 51.3% | 50.4% |
| Point of service | 6.3% | 6.2% |
| Other | 26.6% | 25.4% |
| Missing/unknown | 1.0% | 4.9% |
| Geographic region, % | ||
| Northeast | 14.0% | 16.8% |
| North central | 21.0% | 20.5% |
| South | 40.9% | 38.1% |
| West | 15.3% | 13.8% |
| Unavailable (Medicaid subjects) | 8.5% | 10.5% |
| CCI score, mean (SD)a | 0.8 (1.4) | 0.8 (1.4) |
| Common CCI comorbidities, % | ||
| Hypertension | 25.2% | 23.7% |
| Diabetes | 10.2% | 10.0% |
| Chronic pulmonary disease | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| Patients with an immunocompromised diagnosis, | 12.4% | 12.4% |
| Common immunocompromised diagnosesc | ||
| Cancer | 5.9% | 4.9% |
| Solid organ transplant | 3.9% | 4.5% |
| Patients with an HZ-related complication | 44.7% | NA |
| Types of HZ-related complications observed | ||
| PHN | 42.7% | NA |
| Cutaneous complications | 2.2% | NA |
| Neurological complications (excluding PHN) | 0.4% | NA |
| Ophthalmic complications | 4.8% | NA |
CCI: Charlson Comorbidity Index; HZ: herpes zoster; PHN: postherpetic neuralgia; SD: standard deviation.
aThe CCI was calculated based on data recorded during the 6 months prior to the HZ index date.21