Table 3 Characteristics of study population from identified clusters in comparison to those from the remainder regions of NSW
|  | 2004–05 to 2008–09 | 2009–10 to 2013–14 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clusters n (%) | Non-clusters n (%) | X2 p-value | Clusters n (%) | Non-clusters n (%) | X2 p-value | |
Total | 3255 (100) | 5148 (100) | Â | 7493 (100) | 10,880 (100) | Â |
Age group (years) | ||||||
  < 18 | 77 (2.4) | 141 (2.7) | 0.005 | 161 (2.1) | 235 (2.2) | 0.396 |
 18–44 | 509 (15.6) | 820 (15.9) |  | 1098 (14.7) | 1585 (14.6) |  |
 45–64 | 625 (19.2) | 1073 (20.8) |  | 1403 (18.7) | 2247 (20.7) |  |
 65–84 | 1404 (43.1) | 2263 (44.0) |  | 3252 (43.4) | 4469 (41.1) |  |
 85+ | 640 (19.7) | 851 (16.5) |  | 1579 (21.1) | 2344 (21.5) |  |
Gender | ||||||
 Male | 1401 (43.0) | 2032 (39.5) | 0.001 | 3006 (40.1) | 4450 (40.9) | 0.288 |
 Female | 1854 (57.0) | 3116 (60.5) |  | 4487 (59.9) | 6430 (59.1) |  |
Marital status | ||||||
 Single | 1605 (49.3) | 2616 (50.8) | 0.178 | 3946 (52.7) | 5659 (52.0) | 0.386 |
 Others | 1650 (50.7) | 2532 (49.2) |  | 3547 (47.3) | 5221 (48.0) |  |
Private insurance | ||||||
 Yes | 1043 (32.0) | 1269 (24.7) | < 0.001 | 1941 (25.9) | 3501 (32.2) | < 0.001 |
 No | 2212 (68.0) | 3879 (75.3) |  | 5552 (74.1) | 7379 (67.8) |  |
Socioeconomic disadvantage | ||||||
 1st (most) | 589 (18.1) | 1255 (24.4) | < 0.001 | 2008 (26.8) | 2114 (19.4) | < 0.001 |
 2nd | 639 (19.6) | 1114 (21.6) |  | 1897 (25.3) | 2050 (18.8) |  |
 3rd | 609 (18.7) | 997 (19.4) |  | 1675 (22.4) | 2092 (19.2) |  |
 4th | 660 (20.3) | 963 (18.7) |  | 1385 (18.5) | 1955 (18.0) |  |
 5th (least) | 758 (23.3) | 819 (15.9) |  | 528 (7.0) | 2669 (24.5) |  |
Rurality of residence | ||||||
 Urban | 3245 (99.7) | 4649 (90.3) | <.0001 | 7251 (96.8) | 10,137 (93.2) | < 0.001 |
 Rural | 10 (0.3) | 499 (9.7) |  | 242 (3.2) | 743 (6.8) |  |
Convenient access to pharmacy | ||||||
 More | 3115 (95.7) | 4399 (85.5) | < 0.001 | 6752 (90.1) | 9821 (90.3) | 0.727 |
 Less | 140 (4.3) | 749 (14.5) |  | 741 (9.9) | 1059 (9.7) |  |
Disposition status | ||||||
 Death | 196 (6.0) | 196 (3.8) | < 0.001 | 276 (3.7) | 373 (3.4) | 0.357 |
 Alive | 3059 (94.0) | 4952 (96.2) |  | 7217 (96.3) | 10,507 (96.6) |  |
Severity of comorbidities | ||||||
 Minor | 1760 (54.1) | 3023 (58.7) | 0.005 | 4467 (59.6) | 6585 (60.5) | 0.995 |
 Moderate | 744 (22.9) | 1073 (20.8) |  | 1723 (23.0) | 2305 (21.2) |  |
 Severe | 751 (23.1) | 1052 (20.4) |  | 1303 (17.4) | 1990 (18.3) |  |
Clinical conditionsa | ||||||
 CHD | 282 (8.7) | 381 (7.4) | 0.037 | 281 (3.8) | 396 (3.6) | 0.696 |
 Cancer | 578 (17.8) | 795 (15.4) | 0.005 | 983 (13.1) | 1566 (14.4) | 0.014 |
 BDD | 199 (6.1) | 211 (4.1) | < 0.001 | 373 (5.0) | 379 (3.5) | < 0.001 |
 COPD | 234 (7.2) | 326 (6.3) | 0.125 | 421 (5.6) | 511 (4.7) | 0.005 |
 CVD | 96 (2.9) | 128 (2.5) | 0.199 | 140 (1.9) | 208 (1.9) | 0.832 |
 Diabetes | 454 (13.9) | 685 (13.3) | 0.402 | 950 (12.7) | 1402 (12.9) | 0.679 |
 Osteoarthritis | 147 (4.5) | 201 (3.9) | 0.170 | 187 (2.5) | 279 (2.6) | 0.771 |
Number of mental disorders | ||||||
 None | 2436 (74.8) | 4115 (79.9) | < 0.001 | 5467 (73.0) | 8346 (76.7) | < 0.001 |
 Single | 674 (20.7) | 869 (16.9) |  | 1699 (22.7) | 2232 (20.5) |  |
 Multiple (≥2) | 145 (4.5) | 164 (3.2) |  | 327 (4.4) | 302 (2.8) |  |