Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey

Table 4 Regression models predicting DMARD use among respondents with rheumatoid arthritis in the MCBS, 2001 to 2006

	Total cohort	Among respondents without rheumatology visits	Among respondents with rheumatology visits
	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)
Number	1,403	1,058	345
Age, years
65 to 74	1.00	1.00	1.00
75 to 84	0.59 (0.36, 0.95)	0.36 (0.17, 0.74)	0.95 (0.49, 1.84)
85+	0.10 (0.03, 0.33)	0.07 (0.01, 0.34)	0.13 (0.02, 0.91)
Gender, female	1.14 (0.69, 1.88)	0.99 (0.50, 1.94)	1.24 (0.63, 2.41)
Race
Non-Hispanic, white	1.00	1.00	1.00
Non-Hispanic, black	0.61 (0.30, 1.22)	0.70 (0.23, 2.11)	0.63 (0.25, 1.59)
Hispanic	0.48 (0.18, 1.31)	0.39 (0.11, 1.38)	0.68 (0.18, 2.55)
Non-Hispanic, other	1.31 (0.53, 3.29)	1.55 (0.43, 5.57)	1.22 (0.26, 5.59)
Income (US dollars)
>50,000	1.00	1.00	1.00
>30,000 to 50.000	0.76 (0.28, 2.08)	0.40 (0.14, 1.09)	1.12 (0.34, 3.67)
>20,000 to 30,000	0.57 (0.21, 1.57)	0.23 (0.08, 0.65)	1.06 (0.32, 3.57)
>15,000 to 20,000	0.59 (0.19, 1.81)	0.24 (0.08, 0.74)	1.01 (0.23, 4.51)
≤ 15,000	0.49 (0.18, 1.34)	0.16 (0.05, 0.48)	1.08 (0.31, 3.69)
Rheumatology care	7.69 (5.00, 11.1)	NA	NA

The sample size is greater than 509 because respondents were included in all years after they met the rheumatoid arthritis definition. Models were adjusted for variables in the table plus education, region of residence (South, Midwest, Northeast, and West), insurance status (private, managed care, and drug insurance), and number of comorbid conditions, as well as year of observation. These models were weighted based on the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) sampling strategy. NA, not applicable; DMARD, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug.

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