Characteristics and prevalence of patients who reported having to borrow money to pay for prescription drugs among respondents to the Canadian Community Health Survey between January and June 2016
| Variable | No. of respondents* | Value (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weighted proportion of total population† | Weighted proportion who report borrowing = 1† | Weighted proportion† (within those with borrowing = 1) | ||
| Total | 27 519 | 100.0 (100.0–100.0) | 2.5 (2.2–2. 8) | 100.0 (100.0–100.0) |
| Sex | ||||
| Female | 13 949 | 50.7 (50.5–50.9) | 3.2 (2.7–3.7) | 65.2 (59.5–70.8) |
| Male | 13 570 | 49.3 (49.1–49.5) | 1.7 (1.4–2.1) | 34.8 (29.2–40.5) |
| Age, yr | ||||
| 12–18 | 2372 | 8.6 (8.3–8.9) | 1.8 (1.1–2.5) | 6.1 (3.8–8.5) |
| 19–34 | 6954 | 25.3 (25.0–25.6) | 3.7 (2.9–4.4) | 37.6 (31.7–43.4) |
| 35–44 | 4045 | 14.7 (14.2–15.2) | 2.4 (1.5–3.3) | 14.4 (9.6–19.2) |
| 45–54 | 4667 | 17.0 (16.2–17.7) | 2.3 (1.5–3.1) | 15.7 (11.0–20.5) |
| 55–64 | 4447 | 16.2 (15.6–16.7) | 2.2 (1.4–3.0) | 14.2 (9.6–18.7) |
| 65–74 | 3156 | 11.5 (11.1–11.8) | 1.9 (1.2–2.7) | 9.0 (5.8–12.3) |
| ≥ 75 | 1877 | 6.8 (6.5–7.1) | 1.1 (0.6–1.6) | 3.0 (1.6–4.4) |
| Self-reported health status | ||||
| Excellent | 6591 | 24.0 (23.1–24.9) | 0.6 (0.3–0.8) | 5.5 (3.1–7.9) |
| Very good | 10 350 | 37.6 (36.7–38.5) | 1.3 (0.9–1.8) | 20.5 (15.0–26.0) |
| Good | 7510 | 27.3 (26.4–28.2) | 3.2 (2.5–4.0) | 35.9 (29.8–41.9) |
| Fair | 2213 | 8.0 (7.5–8.6) | 6.4 (5.0–7.8) | 20.8 (16.4–25.2) |
| Poor | 856 | 3.1 (2.8–3.4) | 13.8 (10.1–17.4) | 17.4 (13.0–21.7) |
| No. of chronic conditions | ||||
| 0 | 13 927 | 50.6 (49.7–51.6) | 0.9 (0.7–1.2) | 18.6 (14.0–23.3) |
| 1 | 7147 | 26.0 (25.1–26.8) | 2.7 (2.0–3.4) | 28.1 (22.4–33.9) |
| 2 | 3514 | 12.8 (12.2–13.4) | 3.6 (2.6–4.6) | 18.6 (13.8–23.4) |
| 3 | 1723 | 6.3 (5.9–6.7) | 5.9 (4.3–7.5) | 15.0 (11.1–18.8) |
| ≥ 4 | 1208 | 4.4 (4.0–4.8) | 11.1 (8.6–13.5) | 19.7 (15.7–23.6) |
| Total household income, $ | ||||
| < 20 000 | 1885 | 6.9 (6.4–7.3) | 6.6 (5.0–8.3) | 18.5 (14.2–22.7) |
| 20 000–39 999 | 3690 | 13.4 (12.8–14.0) | 5.1 (4.0–6.1) | 27.6 (22.4–32.8) |
| 40 000–59 999 | 3833 | 13.9 (13.3–14.6) | 2.9 (1.9–3.8) | 16.2 (11.6–20.8) |
| 60 000–79 999 | 3577 | 13.0 (12.3–13.7) | 2.1 (1.3–2.9) | 11.1 (7.2–15.0) |
| 80 000–99 999 | 3214 | 11.7 (11.0–12.3) | 1.8 (1.2–2.5) | 8.7 (5.7–13.9) |
| 100 000–149 999 | 5501 | 20.0 (19.2–20.8) | 1.2 (0.6–1.7) | 9.6 (5.2–13.9) |
| ≥ 150 000 | 5818 | 21.1 (20.3–22.0) | 1.0 (0.5–1.5) | 8.4 (4.5–12.4) |
| Education | ||||
| Less than secondary school | 5209 | 18.9 (18.3–19.6) | 3.0 (2.3–3.6) | 22.9 (18.4–27.5) |
| Secondary school | 6445 | 23.4 (22.6–24.3) | 2.7 (2.0–3.4) | 25.6 (19.9–31.3) |
| Postsecondary school | 15 865 | 57.7 (56.7–58.6) | 2.2 (1.8–2.6) | 51.5 (45.7–57.2) |
| Prescription drug insurance | ||||
| Employer plan | 14 855 | 54.0 (53.0–55.0) | 1.3 (1.0–1.6) | 29.0 (23.4–34.6) |
| Association plan | 2284 | 8.3 (7.8–8.8) | 2.1 (1.0–3.2) | 7.1 (3.8–10.4) |
| Government plan | 4802 | 17.5 (16.8–18.1) | 3.7 (3.0–4.3) | 26.1 (21.3–30.9) |
| None | 5578 | 20.3 (19.5–21.1) | 4.6 (3.5–5.7) | 37.9 (31.2–44.5) |
| Out-of-pocket prescription drug spending in prior year, $ | ||||
| 0 | 13 575 | 49.3 (48.4–50.3) | 0.2 (0.1–0.4) | 4.3 (1.4–7.2) |
| 1–200 | 8759 | 31.8 (31.0–32.7) | 2.6 (2.1–3.2) | 33.9 (28.2–39.6) |
| 201–500 | 2862 | 10.4 (9.9–10.9) | 6.4 (4.8–7.9) | 26.4 (20.8–32.0) |
| 501–1000 | 1406 | 5.1 (4.8–5.5) | 9.5 (6.9–12.0) | 20.0 (15.1–25.0) |
| > 1000 | 916 | 3.3 (3.0–3.7) | 11.5 (8.6–14.3) | 15.4 (11.7–19.0) |
Note: CI = confidence interval.
↵* Numbers sum up slightly differently from the total number owing to rounding.
↵† Calculated with the use of survey weights provided by Statistics Canada, which correspond to the number of people in the entire population who are represented by each individual respondent.