Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of patients (N = 218,047).

	Na	%	p
Proportion Days Covered in 5 years' follow-up
< 40%	71,734	32.9
40–79%	26,478	12.1	< 0.001
≥ 80%	119,834	55.0
Gender
Male	98,270	45.1	< 0.001
Female	119,775	54.9
Age
< 50	61,362	28.1	< 0.001
50–59	42,027	19.3
60–69	41,627	19.1
≥ 70	73,011	33.5
Public assistance
Yes	32,827	15.2	< 0.001
No	183,151	84.8
Service type on first visit
In-/day-patient clinic	65,860	30.2	< 0.001
Special out-patient clinic	64,680	29.7
Accident and emergency department	16,898	7.8
General outpatient clinics	64,715	29.7
Others	5885	2.7
District of residence
Hong Kong	38,327	17.6	< 0.001
Kowloon	73,817	33.9
New Territories	105,902	48.6
First prescription
ACEIs	22,985	10.5	< 0.001
Alpha blockers	13,455	6.2
Beta blockers	98,626	45.2
CCBs	65,535	30.1
Thiazide diuretics	17,445	8.0
Co-morbidity
0	131,088	60.1	< 0.001
1	70,915	32.5
2	14,585	6.7
≥ 3	1458	0.7

^aCardiovascular disease refers to a composite outcome of coronary heart disease and stroke combined.