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Table 2 Demographic and clinical characteristics of community-dwelling older patients with chronic pain with or without ADRD stratified by cohort

From: Quality of opioid prescribing in older adults with or without Alzheimer disease and related dementia

Baseline characteristica

Patients with chronic pain, %

 

Opioid-naive patients, %

 

Patients with neuropathic pain, %

 

Patients with opioid prescription, %

 

With ADRD

Without ADRD

P-valued

With ADRD

Without ADRD

P-valued

With ADRD

Without ADRD

P-valued

With ADRD

Without ADRD

P-valued

Total no.

75,258

435,870

48,182

304,009

9775

64,692

27,801

197,886

Age, y

 Mean (SD)

79.3 (10.4)

70.9 (9.4)

< .001

80.4 (10.1)

72.1 (8.8)

< .001

76.5 (10.1)

69.7 (9.3)

< .001

77.8 (10.6)

69.2 (9.8)

< .001

 50–64

9.4

19.3

 

7.5

13.1

 

12.5

23.2

 

11.9

27.2

 

 65–74

19.3

48.0

17.1

50.9

26.2

48.0

22.5

44.6

 75–84

36.3

24.7

36.4

27.0

38.1

22.6

36.1

21.7

  ≥ 85

35.0

8.0

38.9

8.9

23.1

6.1

29.5

6.5

Female

71.1

63.1

< .001

69.5

62.4

< .001

67.3

62.0

< .001

73.5

64.0

< .001

Race/ethnicity

 White

78.7

82.0

< .001

78.0

82.6

< .001

76.8

82.1

< .001

79.4

81.2

< .001

 Black

11.7

10.4

11.3

9.1

12.4

10.3

12.3

12.3

 Othersb

9.6

7.6

10.6

8.3

10.8

7.6

8.2

6.4

US region

 Northeast

21.0

18.9

< .001

24.7

20.9

< .001

20.7

19.6

< .001

15.1

15.0

< .001

 Midwest

21.7

24.5

21.5

24.7

19.9

23.9

22.0

24.3

 South

40.1

38.4

36.8

36.1

42.3

39.0

45.6

42.8

 West or other regions

17.2

18.2

17.1

18.3

17.1

17.5

17.2

17.8

Low-income subsidy

44.0

34.5

< .001

41.2

28.5

< .001

46.6

35.7

< .001

47.9

42.3

< .001

Tobacco or alcohol use

6.7

6.5

.057

4.6

4.1

< .001

7.3

6.7

.021

9.3

9.5

.391

Drug use disorder

2.3

1.6

< .001

1.1

0.6

< .001

3.0

1.8

< .001

3.9

2.7

< .001

Index pain diagnosisc

 Musculoskeletal

88.8

86.7

< .001

89.4

87.4

< .001

24.5

19.7

< .001

88.0

86.3

< .001

 Neuropathic

13.0

14.8

< .001

12.2

14.3

< .001

100.0

100.0

NA

14.2

15.2

< .001

 Idiopathic

2.4

2.0

< .001

1.2

0.8

< .001

1.2

0.7

< .001

4.1

3.6

< .001

Comorbidity affecting pain treatment

 Cardiovascular disease

85.4

68.1

< .001

83.3

65.0

< .001

86.8

70.3

< .001

87.5

71.2

< .001

 Pulmonary condition

52.9

40.7

< .001

47.9

35.9

< .001

53.5

41.0

< .001

59.2

46.5

< .001

 Diabetes

39.8

34.3

< .001

38.0

32.4

< .001

59.4

47.7

< .001

42.6

36.7

< .001

 Mental disorder

37.9

17.6

< .001

32.9

13.2

< .001

37.5

18.8

< .001

43.5

22.7

< .001

 Gastrointestinal tract disorder

27.2

13.7

< .001

23.8

11.4

< .001

26.8

14.2

< .001

30.6

15.9

< .001

 Urinary tract infection

24.6

9.4

< .001

22.1

8.1

< .001

22.3

10.0

< .001

26.9

10.7

< .001

 Kidney disease

21.8

11.2

< .001

19.3

9.6

< .001

24.3

13.1

< .001

24.7

13.0

< .001

 Fall or fracture

19.5

5.5

< .001

14.7

3.2

< .001

13.8

4.5

< .001

22.7

7.0

< .001

 Neurodegenerative disease

13.7

3.5

< .001

12.6

2.7

< .001

15.9

4.7

< .001

15.0

4.3

< .001

 Liver disease

6.1

4.3

< .001

5.2

3.5

< .001

6.6

4.6

< .001

6.9

5.1

< .001

Health care utilization

 Any hospitalization stay

25.0

8.2

< .001

20.5

5.1

< .001

21.4

7.9

< .001

28.7

10.6

< .001

 Any ED visit

28.3

14.0

< .001

21.9

9.2

< .001

26.9

14.3

< .001

33.5

18.1

< .001

 Any hospital surgical procedure

6.9

3.3

< .001

4.4

1.3

< .001

5.3

2.6

< .001

8.7

4.3

< .001

  1. Abbreviations: ADRD Alzheimer disease and related dementias, ED emergency department
  2. aDefined as the 6 months prior to the date of a randomly selected chronic pain diagnosis for each patient
  3. bIncluded Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American individuals
  4. cMeasured as primary or secondary diagnosis as the index diagnosis
  5. dStatistical comparisons and P-values were calculated using t-tests for continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables