Prescription Rates of Cardiovascular Medications in a Large UK Primary Care Chronic Kidney Disease Cohort

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) risk. Guidelines have suggested the universal use of statins in CKD but aspirin's role is less well defined. The aim of this study was to determine prescription rates for statins and aspirin in a UK-based CKD cohort and to establish factors that influenced prescription rates. METHODS: We used data from a UK primary care CKD cohort to study rates of prescription of statins and aspirin. Simple rates were initially calculated. Binary logistic regression was utilized with either statin or aspirin prescription as the outcome variable and covariates including demographic details and comorbidities. RESULTS: There were 31,056 individuals in the cohort with at least one estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <60 ml/min/1.73 m2, and 65.1% individuals had 2 eGFR results <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 more than 3 months apart. Mean eGFR at baseline was 51.1 ml/min/1.73 m2 (SD 9.1), and 64.9% had a diagnosis of hypertension (HTN), 18.8% had diabetes mellitus (DM) and 29.8% a history of CV disease. Statins were prescribed to 14,972 (48.2%) and aspirin to 11,023 (35.5%). The regression model suggested that CV disease, HTN and DM influenced the prescriptions of statins and aspirin but overall CKD stage, calculated by either eGFR or proteinuria, did not. CONCLUSIONS: Prescriptions of statins and aspirin in CKD is based more on the presence of comorbidities than the CKD severity. Further physician and patient education of the increased CV risk associated with CKD and its suitability for CV medication intervention is required.