Table 1. Patient characteristics of the four medication cohorts^a.

		Antiplatelet cohort (n = 6513)	Beta-blocker cohort (n = 5020)	ACEI/ARB cohort (n = 5243)	Statin cohort (n = 6029)
Age	<45 years	4.0	4.1	3.2	4.0
	45 to 64	33.5	35.5	31.1	34.2
	65 to 79	40.9	41.2	42.4	41.4
	80 and over	21.7	19.2	23.4	20.4
Gendera	Male	70.5	70.1	67.5	70.2
	Female	29.5	29.9	32.5	29.8
Country of birth	Spain	89.3	88.5	89.5	89.1
	Other	10.7	11.5	10.5	11.0
Copayment	Yes	25.7	27.2	23.1	26.2
	No	74.3	72.8	76.9	73.8
Main diagnosis at discharge	AMI	52.7	52.5	52.6	52.2
	Unstable angina	15.2	14.5	14.8	15.2
	Stable angina	13.1	13.5	14.2	13.4
	Other CHD	19.0	19.5	18.4	19.2
Comorbidities	Hypertension	62.4	63.6	70.7	62.9
	Hyperlipidemia	42.8	44.0	42.7	45.6
	Diabetes	34.6	35.1	38.4	35.3
	Smoking	25.6	25.3	22.5	25.6
	Arrhythmias	19.3	18.7	21.6	19.6
	Heart failure	13.9	14.1	16.0	13.7
	COPD	7.3	4.3	7.1	6.8
	Chronic renal failure	4.7	4.5	4.8	4.8
	Peripheral vascular dis.	3.5	3.2	3.5	3.5
	Stroke	2.5	2.4	2.6	2.5
	Dementia	0.9	0.6	1.0	0.7
	Cancer	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.8

AMI, acute myocardial infarction; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CHD, coronary heart disease; ACEI, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; ARB, angiotensin receptor blockers.

^aAll values are expressed as percentages.