Confounders Sample Clauses

Confounders. Lifestyle factors controlling access to sunbathing vacation and awareness of sun-protection as well as psychosis risk can be assumed depending on socio-economic status (SES) and age. For this reason we considered years spent in education and attained age (in years) as possible confounders in all our analyses. SES can be measured as univariate measure of educational attainment. It has been suggested that for those older than 25 years, which is the case in our cohort, educational attainment is an excellent proxy measure of SES. One reason for this is that after age 25, educational attainment is relatively constant (those pursuing advanced degrees after age 25 are typically high achievers). Another reason is that educational attainment is relatively easy to measure and, unlike income, respondents are often willing to answer questions honestly. For the purpose of this thesis and based on available data, we measured educational attainment by years spent in education.

Confounders. Similarly to the previous study, lifestyle factors controlling access to sunbathing vacation and awareness of sun-protection as well as depression risk can be assumed depending on socio- economic status and age. For this reason we considered years spent in education and attained age (in years) as possible confounders in all our analyses.

Confounders. Individual patient characteristics E&M visits are identified using Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxxx Type of Services (BETOS) codes in the Medicare Part B physician claims as face-to-face office visits for new or established patients (M1A, M1B), home visits (M4A, M4B), specialist visits (M5B, M5C, M5D), and consultations (M6). The number of E&M visits presented the total number of E&M visits that a study member has in the study calendar year at baseline. Two binary indicators were created as indicators for any involvement of PCPs and disease-relevant specialist. The specialty type of physicians seen by the patient were identified by using the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) specialty codes on the Medicare Part B physician claims. PCPs are identified as general practice, internal medicine, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, geriatric medicine, preventive medicine, or obstetrics/gynecology/certified nurse midwife. Disease-relevant specialists are defined based on the recommendations from the Alzheimer’s Association as neurologist, psychiatrist, and psychologist.[64] Demographic information on respondents’ age, gender, marital status, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), as well as urbanicity of residence could be measured in the MCBS. Respondents’ age was measured as the age at the time of the survey and then categorized into six categories: 65 – 69 years old, 70 – 74 years old, 75 – 79 years old, 80 – 84 years old, 85 – 89 years old, and 90 years and older. Gender wa measured as a dichotomous variable indicating female gender as 1 and male as 0. Marital status was measured by categorical variables indicating whether the respondent is married, widowed, divorced, separated, or never married. To assess race/ethnicity, Medicare FFS beneficiaries were classified into five different racial/ethnic groups: Hispanic, Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, Non-Hispanic Asian, and Non-Hispanic other. Respondents’ SES was measured in terms of their level of education and income. Education was categorized as one of four different groups based on their self- response of their highest grade completed: less than high school, high school graduate, some college, and college and more. Using their self-reported income, income level was categorized following the MCBS questionnaire as shown in Table 2: Measurements of Constructs. Comorbidities, obesity, and tobacco use were measured to assess respondents’ health status. The Xxxxxxxx comorbidity index includes a range of ...