Trends in the Pharmaceutical Treatment of Hypertension, 1997 to 2003. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Research Finding No. 25

摘要

This report uses nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to examine trends in the use of five classes of anti-hypertensive drugs (diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and angiotensin II receptor blockers) from 1997 through 2003. The sample for the study is comprised of U.S. adults, ages 18 and older, who reported treatment for hypertension. We find that, from 1997 to 2003, the proportion of this population using a drug from at least one of the five classes in our study increased from 84.7 to 89.6 percent and the proportion using drugs from two or more classes increased from 40.6 to 53.3 percent. Among adults who used at least one of the five drug classes, the proportion using beta blockers increased from 30.4 percent in 1997 to 40.8 percent in 2003, the proportion using diuretics increased from 47.0 to 50.6 percent, and the proportion using the newly introduced angiotensin II receptor blockers more than quadrupled from 4.4 to 21.0 percent. In contrast to these trends, the proportion using ACE inhibitors did not change and the proportion using calcium channel blockers fell from 40.3 to 33.0 percent over the period of our study. In addition to aggregate trends, this report also examines trends within and differences across subgroups of the population. Some of the most marked and potentially important differences in antihypertensive drug use were observed across groups defined by age and by race/ethnicity.