TABLE 4.
Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of independent predictors of a hypertension diagnosis (young adults, N = 4023)
| Variable | Unadjusted HR | 95% CI | P value | Adjusted HR | 95% CI | P value |
| Patient factors | ||||||
| Age | ||||||
| 18–24 years | 0.77 | (0.63–0.95) | 0.014 | 0.76 | (0.61–0.95) | 0.018 |
| 25–31 years | 0.81 | (0.70–0.94) | 0.004 | 0.79 | (0.68–0.93) | 0.004 |
| 32–39 years | 1.0 | – | – | 1.0 | – | – |
| Sex | ||||||
| Female | 1.2 | (1.03–1.42) | 0.023 | |||
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||
| White | 0.73 | (0.57–0.94) | 0.013 | |||
| Black | 1.1 | (0.76–1.5) | 0.70 | |||
| Other | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| Tobacco use | ||||||
| Current tobacco use | 0.76 | (0.62–0.93) | 0.007 | |||
| Former tobacco use | 0.95 | (0.79–1.1) | 0.61 | |||
| Never used tobacco | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| Unknown/missing | 1.0 | (0.83–1.2) | 0.90 | |||
| BMI | 1.006 | (0.999–1.014) | 0.11 | |||
| Primary spoken language | ||||||
| English | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| Other | 0.59 | (0.43–0.79) | 0.001 | |||
| On Medicaid during baseline or study period | 1.2 | (0.96–1.4) | 0.12 | |||
| Comorbid conditions | ||||||
| Diabetes mellitus | 1.6 | (1.1–2.3) | 0.006 | |||
| Anxiety | 1.2 | (1.0–1.5) | 0.049 | |||
| ACGa risk score, young index | 1.0 | (0.97–1.1) | 0.38 | |||
| Intermittent normal blood pressures in baseline | 0.74 | (0.63–0.87) | <0.001 | |||
| JNC 7 Stage of hypertensionb | ||||||
| Stage 1: 140–159/90–99 mmHg | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| Stage 2: ≥160/100 mmHg | 1.8 | (1.5–2.1) | <0.001 | |||
| Study start year | ||||||
| 2008 | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| 2009 | 1.1 | (0.92–1.3) | 0.31 | |||
| 2010 | 0.87 | (0.71–1.1) | 0.21 | |||
| 2011 | 0.83 | (0.63–1.1) | 0.17 | |||
| Total ambulatory visit counts, annual mean | ||||||
| Primary care visits | 0.88 | (0.79–0.99) | 0.036 | |||
| Specialty visits | 1.0 | (0.99–1.1) | 0.10 | |||
| Urgent care visits | 0.94 | (0.87–1.0) | 0.15 | |||
| Provider factors | ||||||
| Primary specialty | ||||||
| Internal medicine | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| Family medicine/family practice | 0.91 | (0.76–1.1) | 0.26 | |||
| Other | 0.93 | (0.74–1.2) | 0.52 | |||
| Provider age | ||||||
| Lowest provider age quartile | 1.0 | – | – | |||
| 2nd provider age quartile | 1.1 | (0.88–1.3) | 0.57 | |||
| 3rd provider age quartile | 0.93 | (0.75–1.1) | 0.47 | |||
| Highest provider age quartile | 0.97 | (0.79–1.2) | 0.75 | |||
| Provider sex | ||||||
| Female | 1.3 | (1.1–1.5) | 0.001 | |||
CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio.
aACG = Adjusted Clinical Group Case-Mix Assessment System.
bJNC 7 Stage of Hypertension = severity of blood pressure elevation at study entry.