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Table 1 Patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics

From: Exploring supervised machine learning approaches to predicting Veterans Health Administration chiropractic service utilization

  

Visits within 1 year

 

Variable

Total

1 Visit

2–3 Visits

4–6 Visits

7+ Visits

p Value

N

19,946

5473 (27.4)

5233 (26.2)

4280 (21.5)

4960 (24.9)

 

Age, median [IQR], y

45 [30–58]

44 [29–57]

44 [30–58]

46 [30–59]

47 [34–59]

< .00001

Sex

Female

13.5

25.6

24.6

21.9

27.9

< .001

Male

86.5

27.7

26.5

21.4

24.4

 

Index Chiropractic Visit Diagnosis

     

< .00001

Low Back Pain Only

55.6

30.5

26.3

21.1

22.2

 

Neck Pain Only

9.0

27.6

26.3

21.6

24.5

 

Both Low Back and Neck Pain

31.3

20.5

26.5

22.2

30.8

 

Neither Low Back nor Neck Pain

4.1

39.1

24.0

20.4

16.4

 

Race

     

< .00001

White

70.7

26.8

26.1

21.4

25.7

 

Black

12.2

28.0

25.1

21.8

25.2

 

Hispanic

7.7

27.0

27.8

22.7

22.5

 

Other

2.4

26.7

23.6

24.4

25.4

 

Unknown

7.1

33.6

28.5

19.0

18.9

 

Pain intensity, median [IQR] a

4 [0–6]

4 [0–6]

4 [0–6]

4 [0–6]

4 [1–7]

0.057

No Pain or Mild Pain Intensity (NRS 0–3)

44.3

28.8

26.6

21.2

23.4

0.190

Moderate to Severe Pain Intensity (NRS 4–10)

55.7

28.0

26.0

21.2

24.8

 

Smoking Status b

     

< .00001

Never

36.3

27.4

25.4

21.5

25.7

 

Former

39.9

27.9

27.8

21.3

23.0

 

Current

23.8

23.8

25.8

22.4

28.0

 

BMI, mean (SD), kg/m2 c

29.4 (5.4)

29.1 (5.2)

29.1 (5.4)

29.1 (5.4)

29.3 (5.4)

0.054

Not obese, BMI < 30 kg/m2

61.6

27.5

26.1

21.8

24.6

0.311

Obese, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2

38.4

27.1

26.4

20.9

25.5

 

Period of Service

     

< .00001

OEF/OIF/OND

29.7

28.9

28.1

21.1

21.9

 

Gulf War

24.3

29.1

25.7

20.8

24.4

 

Post-Vietnam Era

12.8

25.9

25.2

22.2

26.7

 

Vietnam

26.9

25.9

25.1

21.7

27.3

 

Other

6.4

23.5

26.5

23.3

26.7

 

Marital Status

     

< .01

Married

49.1

27.6

25.9

21.2

25.4

 

Not Married

19.5

28.3

26.8

21.9

23.0

 

Separated/Divorced

28.5

26.5

26.6

21.8

25.1

 

Widow/Widower

2.3

25.3

25.8

20.9

28.0

 

Unknown

0.5

44.3

23.6

12.3

19.8

 

Service Connected Disability

65.4

26.9

25.7

21.4

26.0

< .00001

 CCI, mean (SD)

0.40 (0.98)

0.36 (0.95)

0.39 (0.98)

0.40 (0.96)

0.43 (1.00)

< .01

CCI = 0

78.0

28.1

26.3

21.3

24.3

< .001

CCI ≥ 1

22.0

25.2

25.9

21.9

27.0

 

Pharmaceutical Use d

Opioid Prescription

13.3

28.3

26.3

19.1

26.4

.010

Tramadol Prescription

8.0

27.8

26.9

19.5

25.8

.238

Medical Comorbidities

PTSD

20.1

27.3

26.5

21.5

24.7

.967

Mild Depression

21.3

26.2

25.9

20.5

27.5

< .0001

Major Depression

7.9

24.7

26.1

22.8

26.4

.051

Schizophrenia

0.5

27.9

29.8

15.4

26.9

.477

Bipolar

4.4

24.7

28.8

21.4

25.1

.199

TBI

4.7

29.4

28.2

21.9

20.6

.017

Alcohol or Substance Use Disorder

10.7

27.1

27.4

21.0

24.6

.663

  1. BMI Body mass index; IQR Interquartile range; NRS Numerical rating scale; CCI Charlson Comorbidity Index; PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder; TBI Traumatic brain injury; Significance at α = 0.05; a 3621 other/missing; b 685 other/missing; c 278 missing; d Prescription within 30 days of MSD Cohort entry
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Chiropractic & Manual Therapies

ISSN: 2045-709X