Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of cases and controls

Characteristic	Cases (n = 2476)	(%)	Controls (n = 24 252)	(%)
Mean age (years)	67.3		67.2
Women	1008	40.7	10 014	41.3
Antihypertensive drug use in the 100 days before
Thiazide diuretics	668	27.0	8 275	34.1
β-Blockers	1331	53.8	11 401	47.0
Calcium channel blockers	869	35.1	6 232	25.7
ACE-inhibitors	685	27.7	7 773	32.1
Angiotensin II receptor blockers	233	9.4	2 507	10.3
Other antihypertensive drugs	20	0.8	174	0.7
Cardiovascular drug use in the 6 months before
Lipid-lowering drugs	526	21.2	5 028	20.7
Statins	512	20.7	4 876	20.1
Fibrates	31	1.3	268	1.1
Antidiabetic agents	406	16.4	2 937	12.1
Loop diuretics	299	12.1	2 413	9.9
Spironolactone	37	1.5	361	1.5
Potassium sparing diuretics	268	10.8	3 049	12.6
Anticoagulants	283	11.4	2 838	11.7
Digoxin	105	4.2	1 243	5.1
Antiarrhythmics other than digoxin	147	5.9	1 625	6.7
Nitrates	792	32.0	3 276	13.5
Respiratory drug use in the 6 months before
Beta-2 agonists	216	8.7	1 728	7.1
Inhaled corticosteroids	196	7.9	1 503	6.2
Anticholinergics	138	5.6	1 088	4.5
Xanthine derivatives	32	1.3	217	0.9
Acetylcystein	84	3.4	721	3.0
Oral corticosteroids by daily dose
<7.5 mg	44	1.8	339	1.4
7.5–15 mg	15	0.6	173	0.7
≥15 mg	10	0.4	72	0.3