. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Feb 24.

Published in final edited form as: Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2008 Nov;101(5):482–487. doi: 10.1016/S1081-1206(10)60286-4

Table 1.

Baseline Characteristics of the Study Population Comprising Patients With Asthma

Characteristic	Study population, No. (%)(N = 2,056)^a
Age, mean (SD), y	30.4 (17.3)
Age, y 5–11	430 (20.9)
Age, y 12–17	348 (16.9)
Age, y 18–56	1,278 (62.2)
Female	1,179 (57.3)
Race
African American	841 (40.9)
White	1,097 (53.4)
Other/unknown	118 (5.7)
Patients without short-acting β-agonist use in the year preceding index date^b	487 (23.7)
Patients with short-acting β-agonist metered-dose inhaler fill(s) alone in the year preceding index date^b	1,138 (55.4)
Patients with short-acting β-agonist nebulizer fill(s) alone in the year preceding index date^b	85 (4.1)
Patients with both short-acting β-agonist metered-dose inhaler and nebulizer fills in the year preceding index date^b	346 (16.8)
Patients with ≥1 oral corticosteroid fill in the year preceding index date^b	780 (37.9)
Patients with ≥1 asthma-related emergency department visit in the year preceding index date^b	387 (18.8)
Patients with ≥1 asthma-related hospitalization in the year preceding index date^b	102 (5.0)

Data are number (percentage) of patient unless otherwise indicated.

The index date was defined as the date of the first electronic prescription for an inhaled corticosteroid during the interval January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2006.