Methodological issues in assessing changes in costs pre- and post-medication switch: a schizophrenia study example

Table 1 Patient Characteristics at Study Enrollment

	Analyzed Switchers ^a	All Switchers	Non-Switchers
N	105	191	460
Male, %	49.5 ^b	54.5 ^c	66.7 ^{b, c}
Age, mean (SD)	43.8 (13.2)	42.8 (12.5)	42.9 (11.9)
Age of onset, mean (SD)	22.5 (8.5)	22.1 (8.8)	22.3 (9.8)
Unemployed, (%)	82.9	81.2	81.1
Race, (%)
Caucasian	58.1	56.0	53.7
African descent	34.3	33.0	33.9
Other	7.6	11.0	12.4
Diagnosis, (%)
Schizophrenia	65.7	63.4	66.1
Schizoaffective	27.6	28.3	25.9
Schizophreniform	6.7	8.4	8.0
Comorbidities (%)
MDD	14.3	14.7	13.9
Anxiety	3.8	2.6	6.3
Substance Abuse	20.2^b	27.4	33.7 ^b
Baseline PANSS total, mean (SD)	84.6 (19.3)	84.5 (18.8)	87.8 (20.3)
Hospitalization in year prior to enrollment	22.1^b	27.1	32.3^b

Abbreviations: PANSS, positive and negative syndrome scale; MDD, Major Depressive Disorder
^aSwitchers with 60 days pre-switch and 60 days post-switch information available
^bp-value < .05 for comparison between analyzed switchers and nonswitchers
^cp-value < .05 for comparison between all switchers and nonswitchers

ISSN: 1478-7547