Monotherapy
DrugAntihypertensive medications, regardless of dose or formulation, will be classified by their pharmacologic class. A total of eight drug classes will be considered: angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), beta-blockers, dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (DHP-CCBs), non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (non-DHP-CCBs), loop diuretics, thiazide and thiazide-like diuretics, and potassium-sparing diuretics.
Exposure groups will be defined as follows:
- Monotherapy: prescription of a single antihypertensive drug class on the index date.
- Dual therapy: prescription of two ore more antihypertensive drug classes on the same index date.
To qualify for group assignment, all drugs must be initiated on the same day, and the drug of interest is limited to the class described in group/cohort.
Out of the two, this intervention will be monotherapy.