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. 2011 Apr 28;4:37–47. doi: 10.2147/JAA.S17709

Table 4.

Outcomes for patients initiating ICS or receiving an increased dose of ICS via pressurized metered-dose inhaler, breath-actuated inhaler, or dry powder inhaler

Initiation population (N = 56,347)
Step-up population (N = 9169)
pMDI (N = 39,746) BAI (N = 9809) DPI (N = 6792) P-value pMDI (N = 6245) BAI (N = 1388) DPI (N = 1536) P-value
Asthma control status
  Primary measure of asthma control 29,961 (75.4) 7518 (76.6) 5307 (78.1) 4237 (67.8) 1032 (74.4) 1103 (71.8)
  Asthma control plus SABA use 21,956 (55.2) 5605 (57.1) 4185 (61.6) 2289 (36.7) 584 (42.1) 610 (39.7)
Severe asthma exacerbations
  0 33,799 (85.0) 8366 (85.3) 5918 (87.1) 4840 (77.5) 1144 (82.4) 1254 (81.6)
  1 4407 (11.1) 1061 (10.8) 658 (9.7) 850 (13.6) 166 (12.0) 180 (11.7)
  2 978 (2.5) 255 (2.6) 131 (1.9) 310 (5.0) 52 (3.7) 55 (3.6)
  ≥3 562 (1.4) 127 (1.3) 85 (1.3) 245 (3.9) 26 (1.9) 47 (3.1)
Disaggregated outcomes of the composite measures:
≥1 oral corticosteroid course 5938 (14.9) 1442 (14.7) 874 (12.9) 0.001 1400 (22.4) 242 (17.4) 282 (18.4) <0.001
≥1 hospital attendance 26 (0.1) 14 (0.1) 0 (0) 0.002 16 (0.3) 2 (0.1) 2 (0.1) 0.519
≥1 course of antibiotics for LRTI 5079 (12.8) 1145 (11.7) 798 (11.7) 0.003 970 (15.5) 177 (12.8) 219 (14.3) 0.108
Mean SABA dose > 200 μg/daya 11,832 (29.8) 2779 (28.3) 1605 (23.6) <0.001 3152 (50.5) 661 (47.6) 739 (48.1) 0.066
Change in or additional therapy 5501 (13.8) 1583 (16.1) 1099 (16.2) <0.001 1693 (27.1) 318 (22.9) 444 (28.9) 0.001
Increase in ICS dose 2908 (7.3) 959 (9.8) 602 (8.9) 320 (5.1) 75 (5.4) 104 (6.8)
Use of additional Rx for asthma 3256 (8.2) 834 (8.5) 645 (9.5) 1532 (24.5) 266 (19.2) 386 (25.1)

Notes: Values shown are n (%). P-values for comparison among the three cohorts calculated with χ2 test for categorical data;

a

The short-acting β-agonist dose is the albuterol dose equivalent (standard dose in UK is 100 μg).

Abbreviations: BAI, breath-actuated inhaler; DPI, dry powder inhaler; ICS, inhaled corticosteroid; LRTI, lower respiratory tract infection; pMDI, pressurized metered-dose inhaler; SABA, short-acting β2 agonist.