Risk of diabetes in a real-world setting among patients initiating antihypertensive therapy with valsartan or amlodipine.
In the Valsartan Antihypertensive Long-Term Use Evaluation (VALUE) trial, the risk of new-onset diabetes was reported to be 23% lower among patients initiating therapy with valsartan versus amlodipine. The objective of our study was to examine whether this finding is generalizable to 'real-world' clinical practice. A retrospective cohort design and a large US health insurance database were employed for analyses. Study subjects included all hypertensive patients, aged >or=35 years, who were free from diabetes and who initiated treatment with valsartan (n=9999) or amlodipine (n=18 698) between January 1999 and March 2005. Unadjusted absolute risks of diabetes were 21.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 18.9-24.3) and 26.3 (95% CI 24.3-28.3) per 1000 patient-years for valsartan and amlodipine, respectively; the corresponding relative risk (RR) for valsartan was 0.82 (95% CI 0.70-0.94). Multivariate analyses - controlling for age, sex, presence of hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease, and pretreatment medical care expenditures - yielded similar results (RR=0.79, 95% CI 0.68-0.92). Our study thus corroborates the finding from VALUE that diabetes risk is lower for patients who receive valsartan versus amlodipine, and extends this finding to a 'real-world' setting.
Weycker
D
D
Policy Analysis Inc. (PAI), Brookline, MA 02445, USA. dweycker@pai2.com
Edelsberg
J
J
Vincze
G
G
Kjeldsen
S E
SE
Jamerson
K
K
Khan
Z M
ZM
Oster
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017311:Amlodipine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D013777:Tetrazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014633:Valine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000068756:Valsartan
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D013777:Tetrazoles; D017311:Amlodipine; D000068756:Valsartan; D014633:Valine