Table 1 Characteristics of physicians, patients, and pharmaceutical claims included in the analysis
Characteristics | Non-users | Low users | High users | p-value* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PCPs | Â | ||||
N (%) | 1570 (86%) | 187 (10%) | 74 (4%) | Â | |
Specialty | Â | ||||
| Â | Family practice | 490 (31%) | 67 (36%) | 28 (38%) | 0.03 |
Internal medicine | 838 (54%) | 103 (55%) | 35 (47%) | ||
Non-surgical | 2 (0.13%) | 1 (0.53%) | 1 (1.4%) | ||
Pediatrics | 235 (15%) | 16 (8.6%) | 10 (14%) | ||
Practice size | Â | ||||
| Â | 1 physician | 783 (50%) | 64 (34%) | 29 (39%) | <0.01 |
2–5 physicians | 612 (39%) | 90 (48%) | 39 (53%) | ||
6–10 physicians | 148 (10%) | 30 (16%) | 6 (8.1%) | ||
11–25 physicians | 20 (1.3%) | 3 (1.6%) | 0 (0%) | ||
> 25 physicians | 2 (0.13%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | ||
Patients (PCPs’ primary care patients) |  | ||||
N (%) | 12327 (86%) | 1505 (10%) | 578 (4.0%) | Â | |
Age, mean ± SD | 45.8 ± 19.5 | 49.2 ± 16.0 | 47.7 ± 18.3 | <0.0001 | |
Female, N (%) | 6367 (52%) | 776 (52%) | 285 (49%) | 0.55 | |
Neighborhood income | |||||
| Â | <45Â k | 2132 (18%) | 261 (18%) | 92 (17%) | 0.13 |
45 k – 75 k | 6970 (58%) | 878 (60%) | 310 (56%) | ||
> = 75 k | 2899 (24%) | 321 (22%) | 152 (27%) | ||
Claims (pre-2006 ARB and IS index claims for >15Â days of medication) | Â | ||||
N (%) | 12563 (86%) | 1533 (10%) | 586 (4.0%) | Â | |
ARB claims, N (%) | 9094 (72%) | 1238 (81%) | 448 (77%) | Â | |
Frequency > once daily, N (%) | 1563 (12%) | 125 (8.2%) | 65 (11%) |  | |
E-prescribing adoption dates | (Synthetic) | Â | |||
Median | Â | August 4, 2005 | July 27, 2005 | August 19, 2005 | 0.60 |
1st quartile | Â | June 2, 2005 | June 2, 2005 | June 8, 2005 | |
3rd quartile | Â | September 29, 2005 | September 27, 2005 | October 12, 2005 | |