Medication adherences according to age and numbers of medications
| ARB-only group (n=29 400) | CCB-only group (n=58 401) | MPC group (n=10 458) | SPC group (n=18 418) | p value* | MPR differences† | P value‡ | |||||
| Crude MPR mean | Adjusted MPR mean§(95% CI) | Crude MPR mean | Adjusted MPR mean§(95% CI) | Crude MPR mean | Adjusted MPR mean§ (95% CI) | Crude MPR mean | Adjusted MPR mean§ (95% CI) | ||||
| 81.0 | 81.6 (81.3 to 81.9) | 80.9 | 79.7 (79.5 to 79.9) | 85.3 | 87.2 (86.7 to 87.7) | 87.7 | 89.7 (89.3 to 90.0) | <0.01 | 2.5 | <0.01 | |
| Age group, years (n=116 677) | |||||||||||
| 20–49 (n=24 957) | 77.6 | 77.9 (77.3 to 78.4) | 77.4 | 76.1 (75.5 to 76.7) | 83.1 | 84.9 (83.7 to 86.0) | 83.7 | 85.1 (84.4 to 85.8) | <0.01 | 0.2 | 0.20 |
| 50–64 (n=46 085) | 82.6 | 83.0 (82.6 to 83.4) | 82.9 | 81.9 (81.5 to 82.2) | 86.4 | 88.0 (87.2 to 88.8) | 89.3 | 90.8 (90.3 to 91.4) | <0.01 | 2.8 | <0.01 |
| 65–74 (n=30 652) | 82.4 | 83.0 (82.5 to 83.5) | 82.3 | 81.4 (81.0 to 81.8) | 86.5 | 88.1 (87.1 to 89.0) | 90.6 | 92.3 (91.5 to 93.0) | <0.01 | 4.2 | <0.01 |
| ≥75 (n=14 983) | 79.3 | 80.1 (79.3 to 81.0) | 77.4 | 76.6 (76.0 to 77.1) | 83.3 | 84.8 (83.3 to 86.3) | 87.5 | 89.3 (88.0 to 90.7) | <0.01 | 4.5 | <0.01 |
| Average no. of medications | |||||||||||
| 1–2 (n=19 523) | 79.6 | 80.3 (79.6 to 80.9) | 79.4 | 78.1 (77.4 to 78.7) | 85.8 | 87.6 (85.2 to 90.0) | 85.9 | 87.9 (87.0 to 88.9) | <0.01 | 0.3 | 0.68 |
| 3–4 (n=48 388) | 81.3 | 82.0 (81.6 to 82.5) | 81.6 | 80.6 (80.2 to 80.9) | 87.3 | 88.7 (87.9 to 89.4) | 87.4 | 89.2 (88.7 to 89.8) | <0.01 | 0.6 | 0.99 |
| 5–6 (n=30 105) | 81.9 | 82.3 (81.9 to 82.8) | 81.4 | 80.5 (80.1 to 80.9) | 86.4 | 87.5 (86.7 to 88.4) | 89.3 | 90.6 (89.9 to 91.3) | <0.01 | 3.1 | <0.01 |
| 7–9 (n=13 071) | 81.4 | 81.6 (80.9 to 82.3) | 80.4 | 78.9 (78.2 to 79.6) | 82.8 | 85.3 (84.1 to 86.5) | 88.8 | 90.9 (89.8 to 92.0) | <0.01 | 5.6 | <0.01 |
| ≥9 (n=5590) | 78.3 | 77.9 (76.8 to 79.0) | 78.3 | 76.3 (75.2 to 77.4) | 78.3 | 82.5 (80.6 to 84.4) | 88.8 | 91.2 (89.3 to 93.1) | <0.01 | 8.7 | <0.01 |
Analyses were performed using ANCOVA.
↵*P value of crude MPR mean.
↵†MPR differences=adjusted MPR of SPC group – adjusted MPR of MPC group.
↵‡P value of MPR differences.
↵§Adjusted for factors associated with the patient (age, sex), condition (comorbidity), therapy (drug costs, number of concurrent drugs, prescription period), the healthcare system (insurance coverage) and the social/economic status (income, residence).
ANCOVA, analysis of covariance; ARB, angiotensin II receptor blockers; CCB, calcium channel blockers; MPC, multiple-pill combination; MPR, medication possession ratio; SPC, single-pill combination