Table 3.

Adjusted* preindex differences in the mean number of health services used by persons with dementia and a matched cohort of persons without dementia

Health service	Preindex (N=4038)
	5 years	4 years	3 years	2 years	1 year
Family physician visits
Adjusted difference	−1.14	0.69	0.69	1.00	4.07
% difference	−12.3	8.5	8.5	11.7	49.3
P value	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Specialist visits
Adjusted difference	−0.70	0.10	0.06	−0.23	2.43
% difference	−16.5	2.7	1.6	−4.9	59.7
P value	<0.001	0.503	0.684	0.203	<0.001
Hospital admissions
Adjusted difference	−0.04	0.06	0.04	0.02	0.43
% difference	−8.3	13.8	8.2	3.3	90.5
P value	0.224	0.035	0.188	0.573	<0.001
Prescription drug dispensations
Adjusted difference	−9.66	1.40	1.64	1.92	3.99
% difference	−32.3	6.0	6.5	7.0	13.6
P value	<0.001	0.009	0.003	0.002	<0.001

Bold values indicate statistical significance (p<0.05)

*Adjusted for sex, age group, rural versus urban residence, geographical region, 1 year prior health service use (physician, hospital and prescription drug) and comorbidity score.