Table 1.

Characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries initiating antihypertensive medication, by calendar year.

	Calendar Year
Characteristic	2007 n=6,350	2008 n=7,379	2009 n=7,083	2010 n=6,947	2011 n=6,749	2012 n=6,627	p-trend
Mean age, years	76.6 (7.4)	76.7 (7.5)	76.3 (7.3)	76.0 (7.4)	75.9 (7.5)	76.2 (7.5)	<0.001
Age group, years
65–69	20.6	20.4	22.0	23.5	25.1	23.2	<0.001
70–74	24.4	24.8	24.6	25.4	24.4	25.5	0.264
75–79	21.7	20.4	20.2	19.7	19.3	19.2	<0.001
80–84	17.5	17.0	17.8	16.3	15.6	15.9	<0.001
85+	15.9	17.4	15.3	15.1	15.6	16.3	0.267
Male	36.5	37.1	38.3	39.6	40.4	40.7	<0.001
Race/ethnicity
White	80.6	81.8	82.1	83.4	83.9	83.7	<0.001
Black	10.1	9.7	8.4	8.3	8.4	8.6	<0.001
Hispanic	3.5	3.3	3.7	3.0	2.8	2.5	<0.001
Asian	2.9	2.7	3.2	2.9	2.3	2.6	0.072
Other	2.9	2.6	2.6	2.4	2.5	2.6	0.272
Antihypertensive drug class initiated
Thiazide-type diuretic	23.9	24.2	23.0	21.9	21.7	21.1	<0.001
Calcium channel blocker	17.8	17.7	17.1	16.6	16.9	18.3	0.913
Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor	32.6	30.5	32.7	32.6	34.1	32.6	0.018
Angiotensin receptor blocker	14.8	15.4	14.7	15.0	14.3	13.9	0.034
Loop diuretic	10.5	10.9	10.4	10.5	10.7	11.1	0.486
Beta blocker	26.6	26.2	26.0	26.9	26.5	27.6	0.114
Other	8.0	8.6	8.3	8.6	8.2	7.1	0.035
Single/Multiclass
Single Class	71.3	72.0	72.8	73.3	72.9	73.9	<0.001
Multiclass/multiple pill	12.0	12.1	12.0	11.8	12.6	12.6	0.221
Multiclass/Combination therapy	16.7	15.9	15.2	15.0	14.5	13.5	<0.001
Initiated with a 90 day fill	17.3	19.3	23.4	28.5	31.7	33.7	<0.001
Year before initiation
Medicaid buy-in	25.6	21.5	21.9	20.3	20.2	20.4	<0.001
Dementia	10.5	10.9	10.6	10.6	11.2	10.2	0.758
Diabetes	26.3	26.3	27.3	28.0	28.7	29.1	<0.001
Coronary heart disease	20.0	18.9	19.2	19.3	20.4	21.7	<0.001
Stroke	7.0	6.8	6.0	6.1	5.8	6.6	0.039
Chronic kidney disease	10.1	10.4	11.8	13.2	14.0	15.7	<0.001
Heart failure	9.5	9.3	8.3	8.8	9.4	9.0	0.596
History of depression	24.6	25.1	24.7	26.3	27.1	27.5	<0.001
Falls	5.1	5.3	5.2	5.2	4.8	5.2	0.706
Polypharmacy	20.5	19.8	20.3	22.2	22.3	22.8	<0.001
Medicare part D coverage gap	19.0	20.2	20.5	20.6	19.6	19.5	0.968
Six months after initiation
Medicaid buy-in	2.4	2.3	2.5	2.2	2.1	2.0	0.059
Newly diagnosed dementia	2.4	2.6	2.4	2.3	1.8	1.9	<0.001
Newly diagnosed diabetes	1.8	2.2	1.9	2.1	1.8	1.6	0.117
Newly diagnosed coronary heart disease	4.3	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.7	3.4	0.013
Newly diagnosed stroke	2.0	1.7	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.4	0.008
Newly diagnosed chronic kidney disease	3.5	3.6	3.9	4.1	4.2	4.0	0.018
Newly diagnosed heart failure	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.935
Newly diagnosed depression	6.7	6.3	6.3	5.9	6.4	6.0	0.163
Falls	1.9	1.6	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.8	0.688
Polypharmacy	12.1	13.2	12.7	12.0	12.1	12.8	0.770
Medicare part D coverage gap	8.7	6.5	5.7	5.3	5.1	4.1	<0.001

Numbers in table for age are mean (standard deviation) and percent for all other characteristics.

Multiclass=Incident prescription fill for ≥2 medications within 7 days.