Fig. 1.

Patient cascade chart and study design. Selection criteria for HTN patients included in COX analysis study of the association between diabetes and pulmonary outcomes (a). Cox analysis was used to measure the association of first prescribed anti-hypertensive medication (ACE-Is and ARBs) with pulmonary diseases (b). The index date refers to the date the patient first filled a prescription for an anti-hypertensive medication. From there, and looking back 12 months, information on inclusion/exclusion criteria and incidence of comorbidities/co-variables was processed