Research Article

Role of Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors after Initiation of Statin Therapy: A PharmLines Inception Cohort Study

Table 2

Baseline characteristics of participants with and without cardiovascular drug treatment.

VariableNo cardiovascular drug treatment ()Cardiovascular drug treatment () value

Age, mean (SD), years55.58 (10.9)57.95 (10.63)0.092
Sex, men226 (42.2%)34 (51.5%)0.188
Smoking status0.495
Yes105 (19.6%)17 (25.8%)
Former260 (48.5%)29 (43.9%)
Cholesterol, mean (SD), mmol/L6.38 (1.25)6.37 (1.12)0.927
HDL-C, mean (SD), mmol/L1.39 (0.45)1.37 (0.43)0.858
LDL-C, mean (SD), mmol/L4.41 (1.18)4.39 (1.03)0.888
Triglycerides, mean (SD), mmol/L1.97 (1.5)1.91 (1.03)0.734
Diastolic blood pressure, mean (SD), mmHg77.44 (9.62)79.85 (11.05)0.094
Systolic blood pressure, mean (SD), mmHg134.66 (17.44)136.48 (19.66)0.473
Hypertension, yes36.6%42.4%0.427
Self-reported diabetes, yes39 (7.3%)12 (18.2%)0.006
Familial CVD0.036
Yes93 (17.4%)5 (7.6%)
Do not know/missing value393 (73.3%)58 (87.9%)
Cardiovascular risk score2.71 (3.42)3.92 (4.63)0.043
Statins0.135
Atorvastatin42 (7.6%)2 (4.5%)
Rosuvastatin31 (5.9%)0 (0%)
Simvastatin455 (84.9%)61 (92.4%)
Other statin9 (1.7%)2 (3.0%)
Dosea0.341
Medium399 (63.2%)43 (65.2%)
High31 (5.8%)1 (1.5%)
Adherence0.077
Low (0-80%)223 (41.6%)35 (53%)

Notes: aSee Table 1 for grouping of doses. Abbreviations: CVD: cardiovascular disease; CVE: cardiovascular event; H(L)DL-C: high- (low-) density lipoprotein cholesterol; SD: standard deviation.