Table 3.

Unadjusted median health care costs (2007 pounds sterling) over 1 year after index prescription for patients receiving a first prescription of inhaled corticosteroid

	Metered dose inhaler (n = 39,746)		Breath-actuated inhaler (n = 9809)		Dry powder inhaler (n = 6792)
	Median	IQR	Median	IQR	Median	IQR
Inhaled corticosteroids	15.74a	7.60–34.42	20.98	10.49–41.96	37.00	18.74–74.00
Oral corticosteroids	0a	0–0	0	0–0	0	0–0
SABA inhalers	4.41a	1.47–8.82	6.30	2.32–13.95	8.39	2.94–20.76
Total asthma-related drugs	25.18a	13.27–49.91	34.41	17.84–67.16	55.50	28.53–108.87
Total asthma-related drugs excl ICS	4.83a	2.32–12.00	8.34	2.94–20.08	11.83	5.16–25.10
Total drug costs	54.66a	26.86–118.31	66.63	34.03–141.62	86.03	46.33–179.62
Total drug costs excl ICS	29.18a	11.34–80.85	35.38	14.10–96.00	33.91	14.25–87.43
Asthma consult, primary care	68.00a	34.00–102.00	68.00	34.00–102.00	68.00	34.00–102.00
Other GP consultation	204.00a	102.00–340.00	204.00	102.00–340.00	170.00	102.00–306.00
Total asthma-related costs	87.62a	48.87–154.63	107.53	57.84–181.31	128.76	74.33–221.98
Total asthma-related costs excl ICS	70.32a	36.32–114.96	75.40	40.02–141.41	76.84	40.92–142.92
Total annual health care costs	378.87a	212.04–676.00	412.47	228.75–720.23	400.84	226.75–699.24
Total annual health care costs excl ICS	353.04a	188.66–642.93	379.13	206.04–680.29	342.38	183.70–626.05

Notes:

^aP ≤ 0.01 for comparisons among cohorts. Combination inhalers, long-acting β₂ agonists, leukotriene receptor antagonists, theophylline, antibiotics, and all hospital visits were infrequently prescribed/recorded; thus median (IQR) costs were 0 (0–0) for these categories.

Abbreviations: excl, excluding; GP, general practice; ICS, inhaled corticosteroids; IQR, interquartile range; SABA, short-acting β₂ agonist.