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. 2014 Dec;7(9):487–488.

Table 3.

Baseline Cholesterol-Lowering Medication Utilization

Patients receiving cholesterol-lowering medications Patients in a commercial plan, N (%) (N = 4,402,866) Patients in a Medicaid plan, N (%) (N = 2,173,914) Patients in a Medicare plan, N (%) (N = 7,537,720) Total population, N (%) (N = 14,114,500)
Statin users, by dosing intensitya Low-intensity statin 54,503 (13.20) 18,684 (21.90) 497,458 (14.60) 570,645 (14.60)
Moderate-intensity statin 287,968 (69.80) 59,556 (69.70) 2,377,955 (69.70) 2,725,480 (69.70)
High-intensity statin 70,329 (17.00) 7196 (8.40) 535,758 (15.70) 613,283 (15.70)
Total 412,800 (9.380) 85,436 (3.93) 3,411,171 (45.25) 3,909,407 (27.70)
Statin and nonstatin cholesterol-lowering medication usersb Total 45,327 (1.030) 10,159 (0.47) 364,656 (4.84) 420,142 (2.98)
Nonstatin cholesterol-lowering medication users Bile acid–binding resins 10,285 (12.39) 1629 (9.06) 92,151 (15.89) 104,065 (15.29)
Cholesterol absorption inhibitors 13,800 (16.62) 1573 (8.74) 141,624 (24.43) 156,997 (23.06)
Fibrates 42,835 (51.59) 12,430 (69.09) 279,033 (48.13) 334,298 (49.10)
Niacin 10,300 (12.41) 2120 (11.78) 64,621 (11.15) 77,041 (11.32)
Omega-3 fatty acids 15,204 (18.31) 1899 (10.56) 62,893 (10.85) 79,996 (11.75)
Total 83,024 (1.89) 17,990 (0.83) 579,786 (7.69) 680,800 (4.82)
All cholesterol-lowering medication usersc Total 450,497 (10.23) 93,267 (4.29) 3,626,301 (48.11) 4,170,065 (29.54)
Patients aged 40–75 years not receiving cholesterol-lowering medications
With diabetes 48,796 (3.00) 15,211 (5.10) 213,098 (8.70) 277,105 (6.40)
With hypertension claims but no diabetes 230,743 (14.40) 41,289 (13.90) 761,533 (31.20) 1,033,565 (23.80)
Overall total 1,605,973 (36.48) 297,051 (13.66) 2,442,821 (32.41) 4,345,845 (30.79)
a

See Table 1 for statin dosing intensity definitions.

b

These patients are receiving a statin and a nonstatin cholesterol-lowering medication, and these counts are not mutually exclusive of the patients counted under the statin and the nonstatin cholesterol-lowering medication user groups.

c

Unique members who are receiving any cholesterol-lowering medications.