Table 1 Socioeconomic and clinical characteristics of new users of simvastatin (n = 108,806) and atorvastatin (n = 7,464)

Gender

 Female

51,130

47.0

3,389

45.4

 Male

57,676

53.0

4,075

54.6

Age (years)

 18–39

2,482

2.3

284

3.8

 40–49

9,696

8.9

779

10.4

 50–59

25,398

23.3

1,963

26.3

 60–69

37,303

34.3

2,549

34.2

 70–79

25,224

23.2

1,531

20.5

 80–

8,703

8.00

358

4.8

Background

 Swedish

90,517

83.2

5,844

78.3

 Migrant

18,289

16.8

1,620

21.7

Place of birth if foreign background

 Sweden

756

4.1

85

5.2

 Other Nordic country

6,495

35.5

452

27.9

 Other EU27 country

3,567

19.5

373

23.0

 Other European country

2,886

15.8

229

14.1

 Africa

482

2.6

43

2.7

 North America

186

1.0

28

1.7

 South America

473

2.6

55

3.4

 Asia and Oceania

2,872

15.7

296

18.3

 Former Soviet Union

115

0.6

14

0.9

 Unknown place of birth

457

2.5

45

2.8

Level of education

 Primary school, <9 years

19,199

17.7

1100

14.7

 Primary school, 9 years

9,180

8.4

707

9.5

 Secondary school

40,097

36.9

2862

38.3

 University, <2 years

2,962

2.7

234

3.1

 University, ≥2 years

16,621

15.3

1405

18.8

 Postgraduate

714

0.7

87

1.2

 Unknown education level

20,033

18.4

1069

14.3

Previous disease

 Cardiovascular disease

25,266

23.2

1,278

17.1

 Renal disease

388

0.4

93

1.2

 Both

492

0.5

40

0.5

Pharmacological diabetes treatment

 Oral antidiabetics

9,798

9.0

581

7.8

 Insulin

4,553

4.2

400

5.4

 Combination of these

3,056

2.8

229

3.1

 Total

17,407

16.0

1,210

16.2