Parkinson’s Disease and Home Healthcare Use and Expenditures among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries

Table 1

Description of study sample, overall and by Parkinson’s disease status among Medicare beneficiaries. National Medicare 5% sample, 2006-2007.

Variables	Overall	Col.%	PD	Col.%	No PD	Col.%	Sig.
	= 60,874		= 10,865		= 50,009
Predisposing characteristics
Gender
Female	35,470	58.3	5,421	49.9	30,049	60.1
Male	25,404	41.7	5,444	50.1	19,960	39.9
Race/ethnicity
White	54,652	89.8	10,007	92.1	44,645	89.3
AA	3,695	6.1	425	3.9	3,270	6.5
Others	2,527	4.2	433	4.0	2,094	4.2
Age group
65–74	29,725	48.8	3,927	36.1	25,798	51.6
75, +	31,149	51.2	6,938	63.9	24,211	48.4
Enabling characteristics
Public assistance
Yes	7,445	12.2	1,742	16.0	5,703	11.4
No	53,429	87.8	9,123	84.0	44,306	88.6
External environmental characteristics
Census region
Northeastern	11,983	19.7	2,399	22.1	9,584	19.2
Midwest	15,842	26.0	2,837	26.1	13,005	26.0
South	23,323	38.3	3,931	36.2	19,392	38.8
West	9,726	16.0	1,698	15.6	8,028	16.1
Metro status
Metro	46,162	75.8	8,448	77.8	37,714	75.4
No metro	14,712	24.2	2,417	22.2	12,295	24.6
Personal health practices
Substance use
Yes	2,337	3.8	440	4.0	1,897	3.8
No	58,537	96.2	10,425	96.0	48,112	96.2
Inpatient visit
Yes	12,875	21.2	3,584	33.0	9,291	18.6
No	47,999	78.8	7,281	67.0	40,718	81.4
DME visit
Yes	19,239	31.6	4,679	43.1	14,560	29.1
No	41,635	68.4	6,186	56.9	35,449	70.9
Hospice visit
Yes	256	0.4	122	1.1	134	0.3
No	60,618	99.6	10,743	98.9	49,875	99.7
SNF visit
Yes	3,576	5.9	1,597	14.7	1,979	4.0
No	57,298	94.1	9,268	85.3	48,030	96.0
Outpatient visit quintile
0-0	14,403	23.7	1,708	15.7	12,695	25.4
1-1	10,153	16.7	1,469	13.5	8,684	17.4
2-3	13,303	21.9	2,306	21.2	10,997	22.0
4–6	10,654	17.5	2,234	20.6	8,420	16.8
7–178	12,361	20.3	3,148	29.0	9,213	18.4
Office visit quintile
0–5	9,433	15.5	502	4.6	8,931	17.9
6–10	12,697	20.9	1,335	12.3	11,362	22.7
11–16	12,676	20.8	2,082	19.2	10,594	21.2
17–25	12,058	19.8	2,632	24.2	9,426	18.8
26–281	14,010	23.0	4,314	39.7	9,696	19.4
Need factor
	Average	S.D.	Average	S.D.	Average	S.D.
Number of comorbidities	17.26	10.38	21.97	11.75	16.24	9.76

Note: based on 10,865 and 50,009 elderly (age 65 or older) Medicare beneficiaries with and without Parkinson’s disease who were continuously enrolled in Medicare Part A and Part B during 2006 and 2007 and were not enrolled in Health Maintenance Organizations during 2006 and 2007; they had a positive direct total healthcare expenditure; individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) as well as those without full year enrollments due to death or some other reason were excluded from the final sample.
PD: Parkinson’s disease; AA: African American; SUD: substance use disorder; DME: durable medical equipment; HHA: Home Health Agency; SNF: skilled nursing facility; S.D.: Standard Deviation.
< .001; .001 ≤ < .01; .01 ≤ < .05.