Skip to main content
. 2017 Apr 3;189(13):E494–E501. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.160823

Table 2:

Use of physician services, risk factor screening and risk factor management, by LHIN event rate group*

Indicator LHIN event rate group; % of patients p value for trend across LHINs
Low CVD event rate Medium CVD event rate High CVD event rate Overall
Physician services and risk factor screening
Visited a family physician (2006–2007) 86.4 87.5 86.4 87.0 0.2
Annual visits to a family physician (2006–2007), no. per person 4.2 3.6 3.5 3.8 0.01
Periodic health examination (2005–2007) 63.8 56.2 48.5 57.4 < 0.001
Visited a specialist (2006–2007) 60.0 57.8 55.8 58.1 0.004
Annual visits to a specialist (2006–2007), no. per person 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.6 0.003
Dyslipidemia screening (2005–2007) 71.9 67.3 58.0 67.3 < 0.001
Diabetes screening (2005–2007) 73.6 69.9 60.4 69.6 < 0.001
Risk factor management
Prescribed statins 31.4 31.9 31.3 31.7 0.4
 LDL ≤ 2 mmol/L among statin users 51.8 53.5 49.6 52.6 0.03
Among individuals with hypertension
 Prescribed ≥ 2 antihypertensive medications 54.8 56.1 56.3 55.8 0.07
 Controlled blood pressure§ 67.4 65.0 53.3 64.4 0.04
 Annual visits to a family physician for hypertension, no. per person (2008–2012) 1.1 0.9 0.8 1.0 0.005
Among individuals with diabetes
 Prescribed any antiglycemic medication 70.9 70.1 74.1 70.8 0.03
 Prescribed any ACE inhibitor or ARB 67.2 67.7 69.4 67.7 0.1
 Prescribed statins 60.8 60.4 57.2 60.2 0.004
 HbA1C ≤ 7% 58.2 59.6 60.8 59.3 0.7

Note: ACE = angiotensin-converting enzyme, ARB = angiotensin II receptor blocker, CI = confidence interval, CVD = cardiovascular disease, HbA1C = glycated hemoglobin, LDL = low-density lipoprotein, LHIN = Local Health Integration Network.

*

Values are age- and sex-standardized to the 2006 Ontario census population.

Unless stated otherwise.

Prescribed medications are in the 100 days before Jan. 1, 2008 among ≥ 65 year olds on Jan. 1, 2007 (n = 984 101). Antihypertensive medications are among individuals prescribed at least 1 antihypertensive medication (n = 460 090). Medications and HbA1c ≤ 7% among individuals with diabetes are restricted to those with laboratory confirmed diabetes or a history of prescriptions for antiglycemic medications before Jan. 1, 2008 (n = 64 163). LDL ≤ 2 mmol/L and HbA1c ≤ 7% are based on the latest result available between 2008 and 2012. LDL ≤ 2 mmol/L is the target in Canadian Dyslipidemia Guidelines.6

§

Defined as < 140/90 mm Hg based on the average of the 3 most recent measurements during 2008–2012 among hypertensive patients in the Electronic Medical Record Administrative data Linked Database (EMRALD).