Table 10_3_1-1

2008 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports

The National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) is a comprehensive national overview of quality of health care in the United States. It is organized around four dimensions of quality of care: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness.

Table 10_3_1.1
Adults age 65 and over who received potentially inappropriate prescription medications^a in the calendar year, United States, 2002 and 2005
Population group		2005				2002
		Received 1 of 33 inappropriate drugs		Received 1 of 11 drugs that should be avoided		Received 1 of 33 inappropriate drugs		Received 1 of 11 drugs that should be avoided
		Percent	SE	Percent	SE	Percent	SE	Percent	SE
Total		17.7	0.7	2.7	0.3	18.4	0.7	3.1	0.3
Age	65–69	18.4	1.3	3.6	0.8	15.6	1.2	2.6	0.5
	70–74	18.1	1.5	3.2	0.7	19.3	1.4	3.2	0.6
	75–79	19.6	1.9	*	*	18.6	1.4	4.1	0.9
	80–84	16.1	1.6	*	*	21.4	2.2	*	*
	85 and over	13.6	1.8	*	*	18.6	2.1	*	*
Gender	Male	14.3	1.1	1.9	0.4	14.2	0.9	2.0	0.4
Gender	Female	20.2	1.0	3.2	0.5	21.4	1.0	3.9	0.5
Race	White, single race	17.3	0.8	2.6	0.3	18.7	0.7	3.1	0.4
	Black, single race	18.6	1.8	*	*	18.1	2.0	*	*
	Asian, single race	20.3	5.0	*	*	*	*	*	*
	NHOPI, single race	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	AI/AN, single race	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Multiple races	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Ethnicity	Non-Hispanic, all races	17.9	0.8	2.8	0.3	18.4	0.7	3.1	0.3
	Non-Hispanic, White	17.6	0.8	2.8	0.4	18.8	0.8	3.1	0.4
	Non-Hispanic, Black	18.9	1.8	*	*	18.3	2.0	*	*
	Hispanic	13.5	1.7	*	*	17.0	2.3	*	*
Family income^b	Negative/poor	19.3	2.0	3.5	1.0	21.7	1.9	3.6	0.8
	Near poor/low	19.6	1.4	2.9	0.7	21.3	1.5	4.4	0.8
	Middle	16.7	1.4	2.2	0.5	17.9	1.2	2.8	0.5
	High	16.4	1.2	2.6	0.5	15.3	1.2	2.0	0.4
Education^c	Less than high school	19.1	1.3	1.9	0.5	20.4	1.3	3.8	0.6
	High school graduate	18.3	1.2	2.9	0.6	18.7	1.2	3.0	0.6
	At least some college	16.3	1.2	3.1	0.6	16.0	1.1	2.4	0.5
Health insurance	Medicare only	16.8	1.4	2.4	0.5	16.9	1.3	2.5	0.6
	Medicare and private	17.3	0.9	2.5	0.4	17.9	0.8	3.0	0.4
	Medicare and other public	21.7	2.0	4.2	1.1	26.1	2.1	5.2	1.0
Residence location^d	Metropolitan	17.1	0.8	2.6	0.3	17.9	0.8	3.0	0.4
	Large central metro	19.1	1.4	3.0	0.7	16.6	1.4	3.2	0.6
	Large fringe metro	14.1	1.5	2.1	0.6	18.8	1.6	2.9	0.8
	Medium metro	18.4	1.7	2.4	0.7	18.2	1.6	2.7	0.6
	Small metro	15.0	2.7	*	*	18.9	2.6	*	*
	Nonmetropolitan	19.9	1.8	3.1	0.8	20.1	1.4	3.3	0.6
	Micropolitan	18.2	2.2	*	*	21.9	1.8	3.8	0.7
	Noncore	23.0	2.8	*	*	16.6	1.8	2.3	0.6
Language spoken most often at home	English	18.0	0.8	2.8	0.3	19.0	0.7	3.1	0.3
Language spoken most often at home	Other	16.4	2.6	*	*	16.0	1.9	*	*
Perceived health status	Excellent/very good/good	15.8	0.8	2.6	0.4	15.9	0.8	2.6	0.4
Perceived health status	Fair/poor	23.6	1.6	2.8	0.6	25.7	1.5	4.2	0.6
Activity limitations^d	Basic activities	23.8	1.2	3.5	0.6	28.1	1.2	4.4	0.6
	Complex activities	26.8	2.2	5.2	1.2	32.1	2.1	5.4	1.1
	Neither basic nor complex activities	14.4	0.9	2.3	0.4	13.0	0.7	2.4	0.4

^a Prescription medications received includes all prescribed medications initially purchased or otherwise obtained during calendar year, as well as any refills.

^b Negative/poor refers to household incomes below the Federal poverty line; near poor/low, over the poverty line to just below 200 percent of the poverty line; middle, 200 percent to just below 400 percent of the poverty line; and high, 400 percent of the poverty line and over.

^c Less than high school refers to fewer than 12 years of education; high school graduate, 12 years of education; and at least some college, more than 12 years of education.

^d For more information, see the MEPS entry in Appendix A, Data Sources.

* - Data do not meet the criteria for statistical reliability, data quality, or confidentiality.

Key: AI/AN: American Indian or Alaska Native; NHOPI: Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; SE: standard error.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Current as of September 2009

Internet Citation: Table 10_3_1-1: 2008 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. September 2009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqrdr08/10_patientsafety/T10_3_1-1.html