Table 1.
Patient, visit, and practice characteristics of adult cough-related office-based visits by medication type: 2003–2018 NAMCS (weighted-estimate of 819.9 million).
| Characteristics | Opioid Antitussives | Benzonatate | Dextromethorphan a | Gabapentinoids | Opioid Analgesics | Mean ASD b |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63.3 Million (7.7%) | 20.9 Million (2.5%) | 29.7 Million (3.6%) | 13.3 Million (1.6%) | 41.1 Million (5.0%) | ||
| Weighted % | Weighted % | Weighted % | Weighted % | Weighted % | ||
| Patient Characteristics | ||||||
| Age ≥ 65 years | 23.5 | 25.7 | 21.5 | 41.2 | 24.7 | 0.21 |
| Female | 64.8 | 71.3 | 62.6 | 62.9 | 61.6 | 0.09 |
| Race | 0.10 | |||||
| White | 81.0 | 84.1 | 78.9 | 87.5 | 83.1 | |
| Non-White | 19.0 | 15.9 | 21.1 | 12.5 | 16.9 | |
| Smoking status c | 0.16 | |||||
| Current | 15.3 | 12.9 | 14.8 | 19.7 | 24.6 | |
| Non-current | 81.5 | 83.0 | 81.3 | 78.0 | 72.0 | |
| Visit Characteristics | ||||||
| Payment source d | 0.33 | |||||
| Governmental | 27.7 | 30.4 | 31.7 | 53.2 | 44.6 | |
| Commercial | 62.7 | 60.1 | 54.9 | 37.3 | 45.5 | |
| Others | 7.5 | 6.3 | 11.4 | 5.0 | 7.7 | |
| Chronicity of principal reason-for-visit e |
12.9 | 15.5 | 12.0 | 37.8 | 34.1 | 0.37 |
| ≥2 Chronic conditions f | 39.7 | 41.1 | 30.7 | 64.8 | 45.5 | 0.29 |
| Top 3 major reasons-for-visit | ||||||
| Cough 65.1 |
Cough 64.0 |
Cough 55.3 |
Cough 38.3 |
Cough 39.8 |
||
| Nasal congestion 21.4 |
Nasal congestion 18.3 |
Throat symptom 26.0 |
Nasal congestion 12.5 |
Throat symptom 14.5 |
||
| Throat symptom 19.0 |
Throat symptom 16.7 |
Nasal congestion 22.9 |
Throat symptom 11.1 |
Nasal congestion 10.7 |
||
| Top 3 major diagnoses | ||||||
| Bronchitis 39.1 |
Acute URTI 39.8 |
Acute URTI 53.4 |
Bronchitis 22.6 |
Acute URTI 30.8 |
||
| Acute URTI 36.8 |
Cough 30.0 |
Bronchitis 27.0 |
Acute URTI 21.9 |
Bronchitis 25.8 |
||
| Cough 15.8 |
Bronchitis 26.1 |
Cough 14.9 |
Chronic URTD 17.7 |
Chronic URTD 16.4 |
||
| Practice characteristics | ||||||
| Prescriber specialty | 0.37 | |||||
| Primary care | 88.7 | 89.0 | 88.6 | 76.7 | 80.1 | |
| Others | 11.3 | 11.0 | 11.4 | 23.3 | 19.9 | |
| Geographic region g | 0.22 | |||||
| Northeast | 12.4 | 11.1 | 21.7 | 12.4 | 10.9 | |
| Midwest | 19.5 | 16.2 | 14.4 | 22.4 | 20.9 | |
| South | 44.6 | 53.8 | 42.0 | 43.1 | 41.4 | |
| West | 23.5 | 19.0 | 21.8 | 22.1 | 26.9 | |
| Metropolitan area | 86.7 | 90.9 | 88.5 | 76.4 | 83.6 | 0.14 |
Abbreviations: NAMCS: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey; ASD: absolute standardized difference; URTI: upper respiratory tract infections; URTD: upper respiratory tract diseases. a Dextromethorphan indicates dextromethorphan-containing antitussives. b ASD > 0.1 was considered as having non-negligible differences. Represented the mean ASD across the 10 ASDs from all possible two-pairs group comparisons (e.g., opioid antitussives vs. benzonatate). c The percentage of missingness for smoking status among cough-related office-based visits involving five medication groups were ≤5.4% from 2003 to 2018. Non-concurrent smoker includes never smoker, former smoker, and unknown. d The percentage of missingness for payment source among cough-related office-based visits involving five medication groups were ≤2.5% from 2003 to 2018. Others include all other types of insurance, uninsured, and unknown. e The percentage of missingness for chronicity of major reason-for-visit among cough-related office-based visits involving five medication groups were ≤1.3% from 2003 to 2018. f The number of chronic conditions was available in NAMCS since 2005. The percentage of missingness for the variable of ≥2 chronic conditions among cough-related office-based visits involving five medication groups were ≤1.7% from 2005 to 2018. g The region was unavailable in NAMCS in 2018.