Table 3.

Factors potentially influencing cardiovascular drug prescribing in Canada^*

	Year; % of population†
Factor	1994	2005	Relative change, %
Cardiac risk factors
Hypertension	8.2	14.6	77
Diabetes mellitus	2.5	3.6	45
Current smoking	24.4	18.2	−25
Obesity	9.5	11.2	18
Subtotal			115
Other factors	1996	2006
Inflation rate for prescription medications (Consumer Price Index), %	90.8	101.2	11
≥ 65 yr	12.1	13.2	9
Patented drugs sales, relative to all prescription sales in Canada, %	45.0	71.0	58
Subtotal			78
Total			193

^*Data sources: CANSIM,³¹ Statistics Canada,²⁴–²⁶ Canadian Institute for Health Information,²⁷ Patented Medicine Prices Review Board.³⁷

^†Unless indicated otherwise.