Supplemental file 1 ICPC codes where patients were excluded from study

ICPC
codes / Disease entity / Reasons for exclusion
K87 / Complicated hypertension / The presence of unknown complications may favor or preclude prescription of a particular drug class
T90 / Diabetes Mellitus / Favors the choice of ACEIs
T901 / Impaired glucose tolerance
T92 / Gout / Contraindication of thiazide diuretics
T93 / Lipid disorders / Favor the exclusion of thiazide diuretics and -blockers
K90 / Stroke/cerebrovascular accident / Favor the choice of -blockers
K91 / Cerebrovascular disease
K74 / Ischemic Heart Disease with angina
K76 / Ischemic Heart Disease without angina
K75 / Acute Myocardial Infarction
K77 / Heart Failure / Favor the choice of ACEIs
K84 / Heart Disease, other / Favor the choice of -blockers or ACEIs
K99 / Cardiovascular disease, other
R79 / Chronic Bronchitis / Contraindication of -blockers
R95 / Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
R96 / Asthma
U14 / Kidney symptoms/complaints / Either favor or a contraindication of ACEIs
U88 / Glomerulonephritis/nephrosis
Y85 / Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy / Favor the prescription of -blockers
U78 / Benign Neoplasm Urinary Tract
Y79 / Benign/unspecified neoplasm, male genital

ACEIs: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors.

Supplemental file2Patient characteristics (N=1,139)

BBs
(n=287) / Thiazide
(n=186) / CCBs
(n=310) / RAS
(n=58) / Othersa
(n=298) / p value
Age (years)
<50
50-59
60-69
70 / 76 (26.5)
109 (38.0)
56 (19.5)
46 (16.0) / 37 (19.9)
58 (31.2)
47 (25.3)
44 (23.7) / 72 (23.2)
83 (26.8)
70 (22.6)
85 (27.4) / 10 (17.2)
22 (37.9)
12 (20.2)
14 (24.1) / 53 (17.8)
68 (22.8)
67 (22.5)
110 (36.9) / <0.001
Mean Age (years)
(SD) (95% CI) / 58.27 (12.91)
(57.61,58.93) / 61.35 (12.48)
(60.46, 62.23) / 63.08 (13.91)
(62.42,63.74) / 59.66 (13.48)
(58.39,60.93) / 64.78 (13.16)
(64.15,65.41) / <0.001
Gender(no./%)
Female
Male / 189 (65.9)
98 (34.1) / 118 (63.4)
68 (36.6) / 164 (52.9)
146 (47.1) / 35 (60.3)
23 (39.7) / 169 (56.7)
129 (43.3) / 0.014
Payment Fee-waivers
Payers / 104 (36.2)
183 (63.8) / 68 (36.6)
118 (63.4) / 105 (33.9)
205 (66.1) / 19 (32.8)
39 (67.2) / 88 (29.5)
210 (70.5) / 0.426
District of residence
Shatin
Taipo
Northern
Others / 79 (27.5)
30 (10.5)
152 (53.0)
26 (9.1) / 41 (22.0)
15 (8.1)
120 (64.5)
10 (5.4) / 79 (25.5)
51 (16.5)
166 (53.5)
14 (4.5) / 12 (20.7)
8 (13.8)
35 (60.3)
3 (5.2) / 113 (37.9)
35 (11.7)
123 (41.3)
27 (9.1) / <0.001
Service type
GOPC
FMSC
Staff clinic / 252 (87.8)
23 (8.0)
12 (4.2) / 168 (90.3)
7 (3.8)
11 (5.9) / 280 (90.3)
22 (7.1)
8 (2.6) / 52 (89.7)
3 (5.2)
3 (5.2) / 257 (86.2)
33 (11.1)
8 (2.7) / 0.081
Lipid Profileb
TC
TG
LDL-C
HDL-C / 5.22 (5.11, 5.33)
1.84(1.70, 1.98)
3.18 (3.05, 3.31)
1.52 (1.48, 1.56) / 5.38 (5.26, 5.51)
1.76(1.64, 1.88)
3.16 (3.03, 3.29)
1.59 (1.52, 1.66) / 5.24 (5.13, 5.35)
1.83(1.71, 1.95)
3..22 (3.09, 3.35)
1.54 (1.50, 1.59) / 5.17 (4.89, 5.45)
1.72(1.51,1.95)
3.19 (2.92, 3.45)
1.53 (1.41, 1.64) / 5.19 (5.07, 5.31)
1.89(1.76, 2.01)
3.12 (2.98, 3.26)
1.53 (1.48,1.59) / 0.265
0.671
0.881
0.535
Mean weeks from prescription to
blood takingc(95% C.I.) / 8.10
(7.72, 8.47) / 7.64
(7.21, 8.08) / 8.34
(7.97, 8.71) / 7.79
(6.91, 8.66) / 8.06
(7.85, 8.29) / 0.117

(BB: -blockers, CCB: Calcium Channel Blockers, RAS: drugs acting on rennin angiotensin system; GOPC: General Out Patient Clinics; FMSC: Family Medicine Specialist Clinic; TC: Total Cholesterol; TG: Triglyceride; HDL-C: High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol; LDL-C: Low DensityLipoprotein Cholesterol, all in mmol/l. a: Others include -blockers, polytherapy, combination therapy, vasodilators and potassium-sparing diuretics; b: expressed as means (95% confidence intervals) c: The p values represent the tests of heterogeneity by Analysis of Variance for means a among BB, thiazides, CCB and RAS)

Supplemental file 3Patterns of lipid profiles by drug group

BBs / Thiazide / CCBs / RAS / Others / p
(2)
TC (mmol/l)
--Desirable (<5.2)
--Borderline(5.2-6.1)
--Adverse ( 6.2) / (n=264)
132 (50.0)
95 (36.0)
37 (14.0) / (n=170)
70 (41.2)
70 (41.2)
30 (17.6) / (n=267)
120 (44.9)
110 (41.2)
37 (13.9) / (n=52)
28 (53.8)
20 (38.5)
4 (7.7) / (n=262)
138 (52.7)
84 (32.1)
40 (15.3) / 0.213
TG (mmol/l)
--Desirable (<1.7)
--Borderline high (1.7-2.2)
--high(2.3-5.5)
--Very high ( 5.6) / (n=192)
111 (57.8)
42 (21.9)
38 (19.8)
1 (0.5) / (n=129)
73 (56.6)
32 (24.8)
24 (18.6)
0 (0.0) / (n=184)
106 (57.6)
39 (21.2)
38 (20.7)
1 (0.5) / (n=39)
24 (61.5)
9 (23.1)
6 (15.4)
0 (0.0) / (n=199)
110 (55.3)
42 (21.1)
44 (22.1)
3 (1.5) / 0.951
LDL-C (mmol/l)
--Optimal (< 2.6)
--Near optimal (2.6-3.3)
--Borderline high (3.4-4.0)
--high(4.1-4.8)
--Very high ( 4.9) / (n=167)
37 (22.2)
67 (40.1)
39 (23.4)
21 (12.6)
3 (1.8) / (n=117)
23 (19.7)
48 (41.0)
37 (31.6)
8 (6.8)
1 (0.9) / (n=151)
36 (23.8)
56 (37.1)
39 (25.8)
15 (9.9)
5 (3.3) / (n=141)
6 (17.6)
18 (52.9)
7 (20.6)
1 (2.9)
2 (5.9) / (n=154)
46 (29.9)
53 (34.4)
42 (27.3)
9 (5.8)
4 (2.6) / 0.260
HDL-C (mmol/l)
--Desirable ( 1.6)
--Borderline (1.0-1.5)
--Adverse (<1.0) / (n=233)
84 (36.1)
149 (63.9)
0 (0.0) / (n=155)
62 (40.0)
93 (60.0)
0 (0.0) / (n=225)
90 (40.0)
135 (60.0)
0 (0.0) / (n=44)
15(34.1)
29(65.9)
0 (0.0) / (n=209)
79 (37.8)
130 (62.2)
0 (0.0) / 0.861

BB: -blockers, CCB: Calcium Channel Blockers, RAS: drugs acting on rennin angiotensin system; TC: Total Cholesterol; TG: Triglyceride; HDL-C: High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol; LDL-C: Low DensityLipoprotein Cholesterol.