Table 1.

Patients' characteristics. Values are numbers (percentages) of patients

Characteristic	Atenolol (n=23 091)	Metoprolol (n=14 060)
Age in years:
≤69	6932 (30)	4000 (28)
70-74	7761 (34)	4547 (32)
75-79	5929 (26)	3760 (27)
≥80	2469 (11)	1753 (12)
Sex:
Female	11 758 (51)	6419 (46)
Male	11 333 (49)	7641 (54)
Social status fifth:*
Lowest	4535 (20)	2745 (20)
Next lowest	5004 (22)	3044 (22)
Middle	4558 (20)	2688 (19)
Next highest	3912 (17)	2469 (18)
Highest	4275 (19)	2566 (18)
Missing	807 (3)	548 (4)
Medication in preceding year:†
ACE inhibitor	6681 (29)	4781 (34)
Allopurinol	1514 (7)	951 (7)
Antidepressant	2135 (9)	1195 (8)
Benzodiazepine	4641 (20)	2882 (20)
Bronchodilator	1125 (5)	879 (6)
Calcium channel blocker	6648 (29)	4148 (30)
Digoxin	1456 (6)	1351 (10)
Furosemide	1880 (8)	1813 (13)
Glaucoma eye drops	1284 (6)	895 (6)
Glucocorticoid	873 (4)	572 (4)
Gastric acid suppressor	5197 (23)	3419 (24)
Insulin	511 (2)	474 (3)
Levothyroxine	2595 (11)	1562 (11)
Antipsychotic	332 (1)	223 (2)
Oral anticoagulant	1434 (6)	1356 (10)
Oral antiplatelet agent	312 (1)	222 (2)
Oral hypoglycaemic	2211 (10)	1683 (12)
Statin	4997 (22)	3632 (26)
Surgery type:
Cardiac	2315 (10)	2047 (15)
Thoracic	425 (2)	241 (2)
Abdominal	5355 (23)	3172 (23)
Retroperitoneal	321 (1)	180 (1)
Vascular	2063 (9)	1334 (9)
Neurosurgical	427 (2)	232 (2)
External head and neck	655 (3)	381 (3)
Unclassified‡	106 (0)	53 (0)
Lower urological or gynaecological	4232 (18)	2443 (17)
Orthopaedic	5108 (22)	2762 (20)
Breast or skin	1198 (5)	659 (5)
Ophthalmological	886 (4)	556 (4)

^*Derived from home neighbourhood income.

^†Two or more presciptions in 12 months before admission.

^‡Includes combined surgeries.