Lipid-lowering drugs as primary prevention in general practice: Do patients reach guideline goals and continue treatment? ADDITION Denmark

Figures & data

Table I. Baseline characteristics obtained when patients entered the ADDITION study.

	Men(n = 695)		Women(n = 773)
	n	%	n	%
Age
<50 years	97	14	45	6
≥50 years	598	86	728	94
Systolic blood pressure*
<140 mmHg	257	38	287	38
140–159 mmHg	282	41	304	40
160–179 mmHg	100	15	122	16
≥180 mmHg	41	6	45	6
Total cholesterol
<6 mmol/L	154	22	112	14
6–7 mmol/L	230	33	242	31
7–8 mmol/L	184	26	221	29
≥8 mmol/L	127	18	198	25
Smoking status
Non-smoking	430	65	519	70
Smoking	228	35	224	30
Body mass index
<30 kg/m^2	464	67	560	72
≥30 kg/m^2	231	33	213	28
Waist circumference**
Normal	171	25	174	23
Large	524	75	599	77
Impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance
No	573	82	633	82
Yes	122	18	140	18
Educational level
No vocational education	94	15	239	34
1–3 years vocational education	332	52	301	42
>3 years vocational education	209	33	172	24
Ethnicity
Danish	604	87	657	85
Other	90	13	113	15
Cohabiting
Single	104	16	199	27
Cohabiting	553	84	550	73
CVD in close family
Yes	195	31	247	35
No	442	69	469	66
Ten-year risk of any CVD (SCORE)***
<20%	92	15	564	82
>20%	523	85	126	18

Notes: Percentages are presented by column.

*Antihypertensive treatment prior to screening was equally distributed among the systolic blood pressure groups (35–45% were in treatment).

**Waist circumference was considered large when >80 cm for women and >94 cm for men.

**<20% risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) within 10 years was considered low risk and > 20% high risk according to the 1998 guideline, the existing guideline at the time of screening.

Table II. Patient characteristics and their association with reaching treatment goal.

	Do not reach goal(n = 657)		Reach goal(n = 781)
	n	%	n	%	OR crude	95% CI	OR adjusted	95% CI
Sex
Men	301	43	394	57	1		1
Women	386	50	387	50	0.77	0.62–0.94	0.82	0.64–1.04
Age
< 50	75	58	67	42	1		1
< 50	612	46	714	54	1.63	1.09–2.44	1.62*	1.03–2.56
Educational level
No vocational education	148	44	185	56	1		1
1–3 years vocational education	289	46	344	54	0.97	0.76–1.24	0.91	0.69–1.20
> 3 years vocational education	194	51	187	49	0.79	0.60–1.03	0.75	0.55–1.03
Most recent total cholesterol before treatment start
<6 mmol/L	62	28	162	72	1		1
6–7 mmol/L	148	34	287	66	0.74	0.52–1.06	1.23	0.90–1.67
7–8 mmol/L	222	52	209	48	0.36*	0.25–0.51	0.57*	0.42–0.77
≥8 mmol/L	255	67	123	33	0.18*	0.13–0.27	0.22*	0.14–0.33
Heart/circulation drugs before treatment start
No	302	50	308	50	1		1
Yes	385	45	473	55	1.51*	1.23–1.86	0.75	0.52–1.09
Polypharmacy before treatment start
0–1	379	48	405	52	1		1
2–4	282	45	338	55	1.12	0.91–1.39	1.37	0.94–1.98
>5	26	41	38	59	1.37	0.81–2.30	1.32	0.70–2.49
Cholesterol measurements within 3 months after treatment start
No	376	59	261	41	1		1
Yes	311	37	520	63	2.41*	1.95–2.98	3.3*	2.59–4.21
Initial dose
10 mg Simvastatin	156	65	83	35	1		1
20 mg Simvastatin	253	43	337	57	2.50*	1.83–3.42	2.47*	1.75–3.48
40 mg Simvastatin	162	37	277	63	1.79*	1.52–2.11	1.73*	1.44–2.08
Other	116	58	84	42	1.11	0.97–1.26	1.30*	1.12–1.51
Start year
2001	19	73	7	27	0.19	0.08–0.46	0.25*	0.10–0.65
2002	115	66	58	34	0.26	0.18–0.38	0.35*	0.23–0.55
2003	191	53	167	47	0.45	0.34–0.60	0.56*	0.41–0.78
2004	202	46	241	54	0.62	0.47–0.81	0.65*	0.49–0.87
2005	160	34	308	66	1		1

Notes: Percentages are presented by row. *Statistically significant results.

Figure 1. Initial dose of Simvastatin according to year of first prescription.