Factors associated with multimorbidity and its link with poor blood pressure control among 223,286 hypertensive patients.

Multimorbidity has become the norm worldwide as populations age. It remains, however, infrequently researched. This study evaluated factors associated with multimorbidity in a predominantly Chinese hypertensive population.

Predictors of the incidence of all-cause mortality and deaths due to diabetes and renal diseases among patients newly prescribed antihypertensive agents: a cohort study.

Background: Randomized trials have shown that the major antihypertensive drug classes are similarly effective to reduce mortality, but whether these drug class difference exists in clinical practice has been scarcely explored. This study evaluated the association between antihypertensive drug class, all-cause mortality and deaths due to diabetes or renal disease in real-life clinical settings.

Methods: A clinical database in Hong Kong included all patients who were prescribed their first-ever antihypertensive agents between 2001 and 2005 from the public healthcare sector.

Antihypertensive prescriptions over a 10-year period in a large Chinese population.

Background: International guidelines recommending antihypertensive prescriptions for the management of hypertension have been published in the past decade. Beta-blocker use was discouraged by a significant body of evidence and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) were found more effective among younger patients. This study aims to evaluate the trends in prescription profiles in a large Chinese population because patterns of antihypertensive agent dispensation represent important information for physicians and policymakers.

Initial antihypertensive prescription and switching: a 5 year cohort study from 250,851 patients.

Purpose: Adverse effects of antihypertensive therapy incur substantial cost. We evaluated whether any major classes of antihypertensive drugs were significantly associated with switching as a proxy measure of medication side effects in a large Chinese population in Hong Kong.

Methods: From a clinical database, all adult patients newly prescribed an antihypertensive mono-therapy in Hong Kong between the years 2001-2003 and 2005 were included.

Drug adherence and the incidence of coronary heart disease- and stroke-specific mortality among 218,047 patients newly prescribed an antihypertensive medication: a five-year cohort study.

Background: Randomized trials have shown that optimal adherence to antihypertensive agents could protect against cardiovascular diseases, but whether adherence reduces cardiovascular deaths in community settings has not been explored so fully. This study evaluates the association between antihypertensive adherence and cardiovascular (coronary heart disease and stroke) mortality in the primary care settings.

Methods: From a territory-wide database in Hong Kong, we included all patients who were prescribed their first-ever antihypertensive agents in the years between 2001 and 2005 from the public healthcare sector.

Medication adherence to first-line antihypertensive drug class in a large Chinese population.

Purpose: Suboptimal adherence to antihypertensive agents leads to adverse clinical outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the association between first-line antihypertensive drug class and medication adherence in a large Chinese population.

Methods: All patients prescribed ≥ one antihypertensive drug in 2001-2003 and 2005 who have paid at least two consecutive clinic visits in the public healthcare system of Hong Kong were included.

A territory-wide electronic health record--from concept to practicality: the Hong Kong experience.

In Hong Kong, a pilot project is being undertaken to implement a web-based electronic patient record system to allow integrated, real time patient based information to be shared in clinics, private and public hospitals. Such sharing aims to ensure that complete and accurate healthcare information is available to citizens' multiple points of care through a stable IT system. A challenge is to share this electronic information whilst ensuring privacy and security.

Accuracy of clinical diagnosis versus the World Health Organization case definition in the Amoy Garden SARS cohort.

Objectives: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of emergency department (ED) physicians with the World Health Organization (WHO) case definition in a large community-based SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) cohort.

Methods: This was a cohort study of all patients from Hong Kong's Amoy Garden complex who presented to an ED SARS screening clinic during a 2-month outbreak. Clinical findings and WHO case definition criteria were recorded, along with ED diagnoses.

Early clinical predictors of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the emergency department.

Objectives: To assess the association of diagnostic predictors available in the emergency department (ED) with the outcome diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Methods: This retrospective cohort study describes all patients from the Amoy Garden complex who presented to an ED SARS screening clinic during a 2-month outbreak. Clinical and diagnostic predictors were recorded, along with ED diagnoses.