Open AccessTreatment of Hypertension and Dyslipidemia or Their Combination Among US Managed‐Care Patients
Author(s) -
Dutro Michael P.,
Gerthoffer Tracey D.,
Peterson Eric D.,
Tang Simon S. K.,
Goldberg George A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the journal of clinical hypertension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1751-7176
pISSN - 1524-6175
DOI - 10.1111/j.1524-6175.2007.07146.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dyslipidemia , medical prescription , retrospective cohort study , diabetes mellitus , cross sectional study , managed care , pediatrics , obesity , health care , endocrinology , pathology , pharmacology , economic growth , economics
The authors examined treatment rates in managed‐care patients with hypertension (HTN) only or dyslipidemia (DYS) only compared with patients who had both (HTN+DYS). A retrospective, cross‐sectional claims analysis was performed in a 2002 US national managed‐care database of 1.23 million continuously eligible members aged 18 years or older. Median age was 44.0 years, 8.8% were aged 65 years or older, and 53.2% were women. Study criteria identified 354,324 patients, 32.9% with HTN only, 34.7% with DYS only, and 32.4% with HTN+DYS. Overall, 49.7% of HTN patients had DYS and 48.3% of DYS patients had HTN. Patients with HTN+DYS were significantly older, more likely to have cardiovascular comorbidities, and more likely to use medications and hospital facilities than were patients with HTN only or DYS only ( P <.01). About two‐thirds of patients with HTN only received 1 or more prescription for an antihypertensive medication, compared with three‐quarters of those with HTN+DYS. Fewer than half of patients with DYS only and approximately two‐thirds with HTN+DYS received a cholesterol‐lowering agent.