Table 1 Patient characteristics by level of continuity of care.

From: Relationship between continuity of care and clinical outcomes in patients with dyslipidemia in Korea: a real world claims database study

Variable

High COC group (n = 127,238)

Low COC group (n = 109,248)

p-value

General characteristics

Sex

Women

65,778 (51.70)

63,502 (58.13)

< 0.001

Men

61,460 (48.30)

45,746 (41.87)

Age

Median (IQR)

50 (42–58)

51 (44–59)

< 0.001

Mean ± SD

49.87 ± 12.41

51.27 ± 11.65

 

≥ 65 years

15,500 (12.18)

14,508 (13.28)

< 0.001

Insurance contributionsa

High

58,746 (46.17)

49,443 (45.26)

< 0.001

Moderate

36,809 (28.93)

30,921 (28.30)

Low

24,660 (19.38)

22,084 (20.21)

Payer

NHI

121,803 (95.73)

104,059 (95.25)

< 0.001

MAid

5,435 (4.27)

5,189 (4.75)

Urbanization level of residenceb

Large urban

63,655 (50.03)

54,045 (49.47)

< 0.001

Small urban

53,151 (41.77)

44,820 (41.03)

Rural

10,310 (8.10)

10,262 (9.39)

Elixhauser comorbidity index

Median (IQR)

1 (0–2)

1 (0–2)

0.110

0

56,976 (44.78)

48,755 (44.63)

< 0.001

1

38,029 (29.89)

32,617 (29.86)

2

20,122 (15.81)

16,857 (15.43)

3 + 

12,111 (9.52)

11,019 (10.09)

Comorbidity

Diabetes mellitus

19,350 (15.21)

12,875 (11.79)

< 0.001

None

107,888 (84.79)

96,373 (88.21)

Antihyperlipidemic agent use

Yes

38,484 (30.25)

34,962 (32.00)

< 0.001

No

88,754 (69.75)

74,286 (68.00)

Health services utilization for all diseases (annual average during the exposure period)

Ambulatory visits

Median (IQR)

16.33 (10.33–25.67)

19 (11.67–30.00)

< 0.001

Mean ± SD

20.91 ± 18.19

24.36 ± 20.93

 

  4–8

51,954 (40.83)

50,175 (45.93)

< 0.001

  9–14

27,105 (21.30)

24,418 (22.35)

  15–23

21,648 (17.01)

19,137 (17.52)

  24 + 

26,531 (20.85)

15,518 (14.20)

Pharmacy visits

Median (IQR)

13.33 (8.33–20.33)

14.67 (9.33–22.67)

< 0.001

Mean ± SD

15.83 ± 11.55

17.77 ± 12.95

 

Annual average all medical costs (1000 KRW)c

Overall, median (IQR)

1119 (654–1810)

1200 (714–2002)

< 0.001

  Public expenditure

762 (440–1263)

820 (481–1411)

< 0.001

  Out-of-pocket payment

327 (181–533)

349 (200–574)

< 0.001

Overall, mean ± SD

1566 ± 2182

1732 ± 2229

 

  Public expenditure

1147 ± 1917

1275 ± 1915

 

  Out-of-pocket payment

417 ± 388

454 ± 427

 
  1. COC continuity of care, IQR interquartile range, MAid Medical Aid, NHI National Health Insurance, SD standard deviation.
  2. aInformation for insurance contribution was missing for 7023 (5.5%) patients in the high COC group and 6800 (6.2%) patients in the low COC group.
  3. bInformation for urbanization level of residence was missing for 122 (0.1%) patients in the high COC group and 121 (0.1%) patients in the low COC group.
  4. c1 US dollar = 1200 KRW in Aug 2021.
  5. P-values were calculated by Kruskal–Wallis tests for continuous variables and by Chi-squared tests for categorical variables.
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