Table 1.
Patient characteristics and medication use at baseline and at selected time intervals during follow-up
| At baseline | During follow-upa |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month m = 3 | Month m = 12 | Month m = 24 | Month m = 36 | ||
| (n = 120 173) | (n = 120 173) | (n = 115 314) | (n = 71 713) | (n = 33 394) | |
| Demographic characteristics | |||||
| Male sex | 49 055 (40.8) | 49 055 (40.8) | 46 760 (40.6) | 28 530 (39.8) | 12 889 (38.6) |
| Residence in skilled nursing home | 548 (0.5) | 598 (0.5) | 720 (0.6) | 585 (0.8) | 327 (1.0) |
| Cardiovascular drug useb | |||||
| Statins | 120 173 (100.0) | 119 035 (99.1) | 110 461 (95.8) | 66 033 (92.1) | 29 936 (89.6) |
| Antihypertensive agents | 94 882 (79.0) | 91 845 (76.4) | 88 602 (76.8) | 55 431 (77.3) | 26 084 (78.1) |
| Vasodilator agents | 3332 (2.8) | 2151 (1.8) | 1970 (1.7) | 1282 (1.8) | 574 (1.7) |
| Antiarrhythmic agents | 6872 (5.7) | 6349 (5.3) | 6231 (5.4) | 3949 (5.5) | 1859 (5.6) |
| Antiplatelet agents | 29 511 (24.6) | 27 968 (23.3) | 27 982 (24.3) | 17 997 (25.1) | 8602 (25.8) |
| Anticoagulants | 16 580 (13.8) | 12 555 (10.4) | 12 710 (11.0) | 8287 (11.6) | 4095 (12.3) |
| Antidiabetic agents | 31 912 (26.6) | 31 229 (26.0) | 30 108 (26.1) | 18 636 (26.0) | 8620 (25.8) |
| Other lipid-lowering agents | 2789 (2.3) | 2509 (2.1) | 2680 (2.3) | 1949 (2.7) | 903 (2.7) |
| Hospital admission in the 3 prior months | 5756 (4.8) | 6186 (5.1) | 6260 (5.4) | 4057 (5.7) | 1890 (5.7) |
| Comorbidities | |||||
| Cancer in preceding 2 years | 5128 (4.3) | 5330 (4.4) | 5249 (4.6) | 3347 (4.7) | 1546 (4.6) |
| Dementia | 2323 (1.9) | 2477 (2.1) | 2812 (2.4) | 2131 (3.0) | 1210 (3.6) |
| Chronic pulmonary disease | 21 902 (18.2) | 22 452 (18.7) | 22 756 (19.7) | 14 916 (20.8) | 7383 (22.1) |
| Connective tissue disease | 1832 (1.5) | 1884 (1.6) | 1954 (1.7) | 1321 (1.8) | 664 (2.0) |
| Liver disease | 1198 (1.0) | 1259 (1.0) | 1319 (1.1) | 885 (1.2) | 435 (1.3) |
| Diabetes (diagnosis) | 29 337 (24.4) | 29 805 (24.8) | 29 582 (25.7) | 18 676 (26.0) | 8811 (26.4) |
| Psychoses | 1461 (1.2) | 1485 (1.2) | 1485 (1.3) | 912 (1.3) | 442 (1.3) |
| Depression | 4751 (4.0) | 4930 (4.1) | 5177 (4.5) | 3557 (5.0) | 1759 (5.3) |
| Parkinson’s disease | 1064 (0.9) | 1118 (0.9) | 1245 (1.1) | 898 (1.3) | 488 (1.5) |
| Frailty indicators | |||||
| Malnutrition | 1245 (1.0) | 1467 (1.2) | 1970 (1.7) | 1565 (2.2) | 929 (2.8) |
| Tendency to fall | 430 (0.4) | 477 (0.4) | 628 (0.5) | 543 (0.8) | 315 (0.9) |
| Bed confinement status, home hospital bed, or anti-bedsore equipment | 2881 (2.4) | 3103 (2.6) | 3566 (3.1) | 2666 (3.7) | 1505 (4.5) |
| Wheelchair | 2166 (1.8) | 2305 (1.9) | 2554 (2.2) | 1871 (2.6) | 1018 (3.0) |
Data are expressed as number (column %). For cardiovascular drug use, the baseline values refer to the year preceding the 75th birthday and follow-up values refer to months m-3 to m-1. Baseline characteristics for comorbidities and the listed frailty indicators were identified during the 6 years preceding the 75th birthday, and once detected, a comorbidity or frailty indicator was assumed to persist until the end of follow-up, except for cancer. Details of certain characteristics, e.g. antihypertensive agents, cancer, and previous hospital admissions (total length of stay and emergency admission), as well as additional characteristics are given in Supplementary material online, Table S4.
Data refer to patients present in the study at the beginning of the month considered. Note that follow-up started at month 3 after the month of the 75th birthday and did not exceed month 47 and that follow-up stopped at the time of resumption of statin therapy (after discontinuation).
Statin exposure was determined as indicated in the text, while exposure to other drugs was identified by the presence of at least one filled prescription.