Table 5

Characteristics by categories of treatment burden (main study baseline data)

NNone (0)Low (<10)Medium (10–22)High (≥22)Unadjusted OR*Adjusted OR†P value
Participants1524308385425406
Age (mean)1524747371660.96 (0.95 to 0.97)0.96 (0.95 to 0.97)<0.0001
Gender (n, (%))
 Male651168 (22)208 (28)193 (26)182 (24)0.74 (0.62 to 0.88)0.73 (0.60 to 0.87)0.001
Number of long-term conditions
(n,(%))
 31217246 (20)323 (27)335 (28)313 (26)
 4 or more30762 (20)62 (20)90 (29)93 (30)1.21 (0.97 to 1.52)1.38 (1.09 to 1.74)0.007
Long-term conditions
(n, (%))
 Cardiovascular disease1423294 (21)367 (26)389 (27)373 (26)0.62 (0.44 to 0.91)0.79 (0.54 to 1.14)0.208
 Stroke/Transient ischaemic attack517127 (25)140 (27)135 (26)115 (22)0.69 (0.57 to 0.83)0.82 (0.67 to 1.01)0.059
 Diabetes800158 (20)200 (25)211 (26)231 (29)1.13 (0.94 to 1.35)1.04 (0.87 to 1.26)0.633
 Chronic kidney disease454101 (22)121 (27)115 (25)117 (26)0.86 (0.71 to 1.05)1.10 (0.89 to 1.36)0.356
 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma758148 (20)185 (24)222 (29)203 (27)1.08 (0.90 to 1.29)0.91 (0.75 to 1.10)0.326
 Epilepsy7614 (18)21 (28)24 (32)17 (22)0.94 (0.63 to 1.41)0.76 (0.50 to 1.17)0.216
 Atrial fibrillation524119 (23)155 (30)142 (27)108 (21)0.68 (0.56 to 0.82)0.91 (0.74 to 1.12)0.369
 Severe mental health problems‡667 (11)10 (15)17 (26)32 (48)2.61 (1.64 to 4.15)1.75 (1.08 to 2.82)0.022
 Depression55385 (15)105 (19)169 (31)194 (35)1.92 (1.59 to 2.32)1.43 (1.16 to 1.77)0.001
 Dementia5814 (24)10 (17)12 (21)22 (38)1.27 (0.78 to 2.11)2.26 (1.34 to 3.81)0.002
 Learning disability142 (14)2 (14)6 (43)4 (29)1.47 (0.59 to 3.69)1.07 (0.36 to 3.21)0.907
 Rheumatoid arthritis10215 (15)18 (18)40 (39)29 (28)1.41 (0.99 to 2.01)1.28 (0.88 to 1.82)0.202
 Heart failure15436 (23)41 (27)38 (25)39 (25)0.85 (0.63 to 1.14)1.06 (0.77 to 1.44)0.340
Age left full-time education (n, (%))§
 ≤16 years681164 (24)172 (25)177 (26)168 (25)1.00 (0.99 to 1.01)1.01 (0.99 to 1.02)0.450
 England1078151515161.01 (1.00 to 1.01)1.00 (0.99 to 1.01)0.904
 Scotland467262624241.00 (0.99 to 1.01)0.99 (0.99 to 1.00)0.032
EuroQol five dimensions, five level questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L)11 (mean)15200.670.630.560.420.11 (0.08 to 0.16)0.09 (0.06 to 0.12)<0.0001
Disease burden score12 (mean)144312.815.719.026.11.06 (1.06 to 1.08)1.07 (1.07 to 1.09)<0.0001
Self-rated health (n, (%))
 Poor31536 (11)42 (13)75 (24)162 (51)
 Fair674112 (17)168 (25)216 (32)178 (26)0.39 (0.30 to 0.50)0.41 (0.31 to 0.53)<0.0001
 Good422111 (26)138 (33)116 (27)57 (14)0.20 (0.15 to 0.26)0.19 (0.14 to 0.26)<0.0001
 Very good8740 (46)28 (32)16 (18)3 (3)0.08 (0.05 to 0.13)0.08 (0.05 to 0.12)<0.0001
 Excellent53 (60)2 (40)000.04 (0.01 to 0.23)0.03 (0.00 to 0.16)<0.0001
  • *Ordinal logistic regression comparing no burden (0), low burden (<10), medium burden (10–22) and high burden (≥22).

  • †Ordinal logistic regression comparing no burden (0), low burden (<10), medium burden (10–22) and high burden (≥22), adjusted for age, gender, number of comorbidities, age left full-time education and individual deprivation score.

  • ‡Including schizophrenia and psychotic illness.

  • §Individual Index of Multiple Deprivation score, 2010, for England, and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation score, 2010, for Scotland, for both a higher score correlates with greater deprivation.

  • Statistically significant associations are shown in bold