Antihypertensive drug class and dyslipidemia: risk association among Chinese patients with uncomplicated hypertension

Factors associated with dyslipidemia in Chinese patients with uncomplicated hypertension were investigated in 1139 patients who were newly prescribed a single antihypertensive drug in the public primary healthcare setting in Hong Kong, where their fasting lipid profiles were measured 4 - 16 weeks after the first prescription. Multivariate logistic regression showed that thiazide users were more likely (odds ratio (OR) 3.67, 95% CI 1.13, 11.88, P = 0.030) to have adverse (>= 6.2mmol/l) total cholesterol (TC) compared with drugs acting on the renin angiotensin system (RAS), but the absolute difference in mean TC between thiazide users and all patients was small (0.14 mmol/l), whereas advanced age and male gender were also associated with some aspects of dyslipidemia. Clinicians should be aware of the increased risk of dyslipidemia in these groups, but the mild dyslipidemic profile associated with thiazides should not in itself deter its use as a possible first-line antihypertensive agent among Chinese patients.