Table 1.
Descriptive Summary of Patient Characteristics
| Overall | Hypertension (without diabetes) | Diabetes (with or without hypertension) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Patients | 764,521 | 484,845 | 279,676 |
| (100%) | (63.4%) | (36.6%) | |
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | |
| Patient Characteristics | |||
| Age | 64.1 (14.0) | 63.8 (14.5) | 64.6 (13.2) |
| Female (%) | 52.6 | 54.2 | 49.6 |
| Race/Ethnicity (%) | |||
| White | 79.3 | 81.2 | 75.9 |
| Hispanic | 3.7 | 2.8 | 5.4 |
| Black | 5.0 | 4.4 | 6.0 |
| Asian | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Other race | 10.9 | 10.7 | 11.1 |
| Marital Status (%) | |||
| Married or Domestic Partnership | 60.9 | 61.4 | 60.1 |
| Divorced | 8.6 | 8.4 | 8.9 |
| Never married | 13.2 | 12.9 | 13.9 |
| Widowed | 10.3 | 10.2 | 10.4 |
| Other marital status | 7.0 | 7.1 | 6.7 |
| Median household income (US$; mean, SD) | 62,189.5 (20,464.7) | 63,123.9 (20,851.7) | 60,569.5 (19,671.2) |
| Encounter types | |||
| Total encounters | 3.9 (3.4) | 3.6 (3.1) | 4.4 (3.7) |
| Total in-person encounters | 3.1 (3.0) | 2.9 (2.7) | 3.5 (3.3) |
| Total telemedicine audio encounters | 0.2 (0.5) | 0.1 (0.5) | 0.2 (0.6) |
| Total telemedicine video encounters | 0.5 (1.1) | 0.5 (1.0) | 0.6 (1.2) |
| Total e-visit encounters | 0.0 (0.2) | 0.0 (0.2) | 0.0 (0.3) |
| Telemedicine exposed (%) | 39.4 | 37.4 | 42.6 |
| Urbanicity (%) | |||
| Metropolitan | 77.0 | 77.6 | 75.9 |
| Isolated | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.8 |
| Rural (large) | 10.4 | 10.0 | 11.0 |
| Rural (small) | 7.0 | 6.9 | 7.3 |
| Insurance Class (%) | |||
| Commercial | 36.0 | 38.3 | 32.0 |
| Dual Medicare/Medicaid | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
| Medicaid | 3.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 |
| Medicare | 55.2 | 53.3 | 58.5 |
| Others | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Comorbidities (%) | |||
| Charlson score (mean, SD) | 1.9 (2.2) | 1.5 (1.9) | 2.6 (2.4) |
| Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease | 24.0 | 21.3 | 28.7 |
| Chronic Kidney Disease | 16.2 | 11.2 | 24.7 |
| Heart Failure | 8.1 | 6.2 | 11.4 |
| Mental health diagnosis | 34.0 | 34.0 | 33.9 |
| Obesity | 26.6 | 22.0 | 34.7 |
| Opioid Use Disorder | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
| Diagnoses (%) | |||
| Diabetes only | 6.6 | - | 18.0 |
| Hypertension only | 63.4 | 100.0 | - |
| Diabetes and Hypertension | 30.0 | - | 82.0 |
| Prescriptions (%) | |||
| Diabetes Medication | |||
| Diabetes with no drugs | - | - | 20.9 |
| Diabetes with non-insulin drugs only | - | - | 44.9 |
| Diabetes with insulin | - | - | 34.2 |
| Anti-hypertensive Medication | 84.2 | 86.4 | 80.4 |
Note: Diagnoses are obtained from the US National Library of Medicine Value Set Authority Center (NLM-VSAC) and we included all code classified as mental health conditions by NLM-VSAC. Insulin included prescriptions classified as insulin (basal), insulin (bolus), or insulin combination (basal and bolus). Non-insulin glucose-lowering medications included: biguanides, sulfonylureas, TZD, A-G inhibitors (<1%), meglitinides (<1%), DPP-4, SGLT2, amylin (<1%), and GLP-1. Anti-hypertensive medications include one or more of the following prescriptions: diuretics, beta-blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, alpha blockers, alpha-2 receptor agonists, combined alpha and beta-blockers, central agonists, peripheral adrenergic inhibitors, and vasodilators.