Table 1. Characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries initiating antihypertensive medication, by calendar year.
| Calendar year | |||||
| Characteristic | 2007 (n = 7456) | 2008 (n = 8769) | 2009 (n = 8575) | 2010 (n = 8719) | p-value for trend |
| Age, years | 77.0 (7.6) | 77.1 (7.7) | 76.8 (7.6) | 76.7 (7.6) | <0.001 |
| Male | 2753 (36.9%) | 3310 (37.7%) | 3368 (39.3%) | 3540 (40.6%) | <0.001 |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| White | 5933 (79.6%) | 7117 (81.2%) | 7015 (81.8%) | 7189 (82.5%) | <0.001 |
| Black | 826 (11.1%) | 914 (10.4%) | 771 (9.0%) | 775 (8.9%) | <0.001 |
| Hispanic | 270 (3.6%) | 301 (3.4%) | 307 (3.6%) | 283 (3.2%) | 0.27 |
| Asian | 220 (3.0%) | 220 (2.5%) | 274 (3.2%) | 252 (2.9%) | 0.48 |
| Other | 207 (2.8%) | 217 (2.5%) | 208 (2.4%) | 220 (2.5%) | 0.32 |
| Medicaid buy-in | 2007 (26.9%) | 1977 (22.5%) | 1916 (22.3%) | 1857 (21.3%) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes | 1966 (26.4%) | 2329 (26.6%) | 2346 (27.4%) | 2463 (28.2%) | 0.003 |
| Coronary heart disease | 1310 (17.6%) | 1496 (17.1%) | 1524 (17.8%) | 1516 (17.4%) | 0.90 |
| Stroke | 583 (7.8%) | 661 (7.5%) | 583 (6.8%) | 600 (6.9%) | 0.006 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 666 (8.9%) | 840 (9.6%) | 905 (10.6%) | 1041 (11.9%) | <0.001 |
| Heart failure | 861 (11.5%) | 941 (10.7%) | 867 (10.1%) | 925 (10.6%) | 0.03 |
| Any compelling indication† | 3585 (48.1%) | 4260 (48.6%) | 4207 (49.1%) | 4394 (50.4%) | 0.002 |
Numbers in table are mean (standard deviation) for age and number (percent) for other characteristics.
†
Others include alpha blockers, central acting agents, direct vasodilators, aldosterone receptor blockers, and renin inhibitors.