Table 1. Characteristics of individuals with and without asthma living in Ontario, Canada.
| Characteristic | Individuals with asthma | Individuals without asthma | P-value for equivalence* |
| N | 1,477,575 | 10,143,134 | |
| Age, years (mean (standard deviation)) | 31.8 (22.8) | 38.2 (21.6) | 1.000 |
| Female (%) | 53.2 | 50.6 | 0.985 |
| Socioeconomic Status | |||
| - Quintile 1 (Lowest) | 19.7 | 18.9 | <0.001 |
| - Quintile 2 | 19.9 | 19.7 | |
| - Quintile 3 | 20.2 | 20.1 | |
| - Quintile 4 | 20.4 | 20.5 | |
| - Quintile 5 (Highest) | 19.5 | 20.4 | |
| Rural (versus urban) residence (%) | 11.8 | 13.2 | <0.001 |
| COPD (%) | 16.0 | 4.7 | 1.000 |
COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
*
Equivalence tests performed. Significant P-values indicate that distributions are ‘practically equivalent’ to within +/− two percentage points for proportions and 0.75 years for age.