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Table 1 Description of main patient characteristics and comparisons between of regular BZD/Z-drug users and non-users

From: The prevalence and prescribing patterns of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs in older nursing home residents in different European countries and Israel: retrospective results from the EU SHELTER study

 

Total sample

N = 4023 (%)

All regular BZD/Z-drug users

N = 1113 (%)

BZD/Z-drug

non-users

N = 2910 (%)

p-value

Age, years mean ± SD

83.5 ± 9.4

83.2 ± 9.4

83.7 ± 9.3

0.10

Age categories N (%)

  ≤ 65 years

177 (4.0)

51 (5.0)

126 (4.7)

0.267

 66–74 years

354 (9.6)

108 (10.7)

246 (9.1)

 75–84 years

1172 (31.7)

330 (32.7)

842 (31.3)

  ≥ 85 years

1197 (54.0)

521 (51.6)

1476 (54.9)

Gender (female)

2945 (73.2)

822 (73.9)

2123 (73.0)

0.53

Number of medications mean ± SD

7 ± 3.6

8.3 ± 3.3

6.5 ± 3.6

< 0.001

Number of medications categories

  ≤ 4 medications

1044 (26.0)

144 (12.9)

900 (30.9)

< 0.001

 5–9 medications

2000 (49.7)

581 (52.2)

1419 (48.8)

  ≥ 10 medications

979 (24.3)

388 (34.9)

591 (20.3)

CPS a

 Mean ± SD

2.9 ± 1.9

2.7 ± 1.9

3.0 ± 1.9

0.002

 Median (IQR)

3.0 (1.0–5.0)

3.0 (1.0–5.0)

3.0 (1.0–5.0)

CPS categories N (%)

 0–1 Cognition intact

1116 (28.3)

367 (33.5)

796 (26.3)

< 0.001

 2–6 Cognition impaired

2831 (71.7)

730 (66.5)

2101 (73.7)

ADL Hierarchy scale b

 Mean ± SD

15.2 ± 9.5

14.2 ± 9.7

15.5 ± 9.5

< 0.001

 Median (IQR)

16.0 (7.0–24.0)

15.0 (5.0–23.0)

17.0 (7.0–24.0)

ADL Hierarchy scale Categories N (%)

 0–1 Independent

744 (18.5)

254 (22.8)

490 (16.9)

< 0.001

 2–4 Assistance required

1661 (41.4)

445 (40.0)

1216 (41.9)

 5–6 Dependent

1607 (40.0)

413 (37.1)

1194 (41.2)

PAIN scale c

 Mean ± SD

0.6 ± 0.8

0.7 ± 0.9

0.5 ± 0.8

< 0.001

 Median (IQR)

0.0 (0.0–1.0)

0.0 (0.0–1.0)

0.0 (0.0–1.0)

PAIN scale categories N (%)

 0 No pain

2280 (61.2)

550 (55.2)

1730 (63.4)

< 0.001

 1 Mild pain

922 (24.8)

281 (28.2)

641 (23.5)

 2 Moderate pain

395 (9.8)

110 (11.0)

285 (10.5)

 3 Severe pain

109 (2.7)

49 (4.9)

60 (2.2)

 4 Excruciating pain

17 (0.4)

6 (0.6)

11 (0.4)

CAP Delirium d

 Mean ± SD

0.3 ± 0.8

0.3 ± 0.9

0.3 ± 0.8

0.18

 Median (IQR)

0.0 (0.0–0.0)

0.0 (0.0–0.0)

0.0 (0.0–0.0)

Depression scale e

 Mean ± SD

2.1 ± 2.7

2.6 ± 2.9

1.9 ± 2.6

< 0.001

 Median (IQR)

1.0 (0.0–3.0)

2.0 (0.0–4.0)

1.0 (0.0–3.0)

Depression scale Categories N (%)

 0 No clinical problems

1645 (41.5)

379 (34.5)

1266 (44.3)

< 0.001

 1–2 Changes in mood, but not clinically relevant depression

1048 (26.5)

284 (25.8)

764 (26.7)

  ≥ 3 Clinically relevant depression

1268 (32.0)

437 (39.7)

831 (29.0)

Communication scale f

 Mean ± SD

3.0 ± 2.9

2.6 ± 2.8

3.1 ± 2.9

0.05

 Median (IQR)

2.0 (0.0–6.0)

2.0 (0.0–5.0)

2.0 (0.0–6.0)

Communication scale Categories N (%)

 0 Intact

1736 (42.3)

525 (47.6)

1146 (40.0)

< 0.001

 1–4 Mild to moderate

1092 (26.6)

279 (25.3)

776 (27.1)

 5–8 Moderate-severe to very severe

1273 (30.6)

299 (27.1)

943 (32.9)

  1. Results in bold indicate statistically significant results
  2. a CPS – Cognitive Performance Scale [26] was used to access cognitive status. It includes five items: cognitive skills for daily decision making, short-term memory problems, procedural memory problems, making self-understood, and eating ability. Scores of CPS items range from 0 (intact) to 6 (very severe cognitive impairment), and any score ≥ 2 indicates clinically significant cognitive impairment (from mild to very severe stages)
  3. b ADL Hierarchy scale – Activities of Daily Living Hierarchy scale [25] comprises 7 items: personal hygiene, dressing upper body, dressing lower body, locomotion, toilet use, bed mobility, eating. Each item is scored from 0 = requires supervision to 4 = total dependence. The scale ranges from 0 to 28, with higher scores reflecting greater level of dependency and difficulties in performing activities
  4. c Pain scale [28] - summarizes the reported presence and intensity of pain. The scores range from 0 = no pain to 4 = daily excruciating pain
  5. d CAP Delirium [30] – this scale comprises 4 items: easily distracted, disorganized speech, mental function varies over day, change in decision making. The scale ranges from 0 to 4, with higher values indication increase likelihood of delirium
  6. e Depression scale [27] – is based on the self-reported mood items and indicates the presence of depressed mood and anxiety. It consists of 3 self-reported mood items, while each question can be scored from 0 to 2 with the maximum overall score of 6. The score of this scale range from 0 = no symptoms of depression to 6 = all symptoms present in last 3 days/24 h: high likelihood of depression
  7. f Communication scale [29] – consists of two items: making self-understood (expression) and ability to understand others (comprehension), while not taking directly into consideration hearing and visual impairment. It is primarily focused on dysphasia and similar syndromes. The scores range from 0 = intact to 8 = very severe impairment