CONTINUATION OF INITIAL ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICATION AFTER 1-YEAR OF THERAPY

This paper describes use of the prescription records of a large pharma ceutical benefits management organization to retrospectively analyze t he refill behavior of patients who have recently started antihypertens ive therapy in the outpatient setting. Using logistic regression analy sis, the author identified class of antihypertensive medication, patie nt age, and dosing frequency as clinically important independent covar iates that are predictive of persistence (defined as continuing therap y with the original antihypertensive drug as originally prescribed) at 12 months. At 12 months' follow-up, the percentage of patients contin uing initial angiotensin II (A-II) antagonist therapy was substantiall y higher than the percentage continuing therapy with angiotensin-conve rting enzyme inhibitors, calcium antagonists, beta-blockers, or thiazi de diuretics (64% vs 58%, 50%, 43%, and 38%, respectively). Additional studies are needed to explain why more patients continued with the sa me A-II antagonist therapy at 12 months compared with the other classe s of antihypertensive drugs; whether these findings are explained by d rug tolerability, financial incentives, newness of the product, select ion bias, or other factors; whether these differences will be maintain ed in the following years; and whether the differences are associated with better health outcomes.