Table 1. Demographic and clinical characteristics of paediatric asthma patients (n = 180).
| Characteristic | M/M asthma (n = 68)a | Difficult asthma (n = 112)a | P value |
| Age at evaluation (years)b | 8.79±3.15 [2]–[15] | 9.35±3.80 [1]–[16] | NS |
| Gender (female) | 29 (42.6%) | 35 (31.3%) | NS |
| Smoking | NS | ||
| Never | 66 (98.5%) | 105 (98.1%) | |
| Ex-smoker | 0 | 0 | |
| Current smoker | 1 (1.5%) | 2 (1.9%) | |
| Personal history of hayfever/eczema | 42 (63.6%) | 82 (74.5%) | NS |
| Family history of asthma | 45 (67.2%) | 86 (78.2%) | NS |
| Family history of hayfever/eczema | 46 (69.7%) | 63 (64.9%) | NS |
| At least one indicator of asthma exacerbation in the last 12 months | 21 (30.9%) | 101 (90.2%) | <0.001 |
| Unscheduled visit (GP, hospital) | 20 (29.4%) [0–2] | 83 (75.5%) [0–14] | <0.001 |
| Accident & emergency attendance | 7 (10.3%) [0–2] | 37 (34.3%) [0–10] | <0.001 |
| Hospital admission | 0 | 27 (24.5%) [0–10] | <0.001 |
| Rescue steroid course | 10 (14.7%) [0–1] | 81 (75.7%) [0–15] | <0.001 |
| BTS step of asthma treatment (%) | <0.001 | ||
| Step 1 | 4 (5.9%) | 0 | |
| Step 2 | 31 (45.6%) | 0 | |
| Step 3 | 33 (48.5%) | 0 | |
| Step 4 | 0 | 74 (66%) | |
| Step 5 | 0 | 38 (33.9%) | |
| Number of asthma drug categoriesb | 2.2±0.6 [0–3] | 4.1±0.9 [3]–[7] | <0.001 |
| Use of home nebuliser | <0.001 | ||
| No | 52 (89.7%) | 37 (33%) | |
| Yes (as needed) | 6 (10.3%) | 56 (50%) | |
| Yes (regular) | 0 | 19 (17%) | |
| Maintenance oral steroid | 0 | 14 (12.6%) [2.5–50] | 0.002 |
| BDP equivalent of daily ICS (µg)b | 332.0±180.5 [100–800] | 1247.6±897.5 [200–4000] | <0.001 |
BTS: British Thoracic Society; GP: general practitioner; BDP: beclomethasone diproprionate; ICS: inhaled corticosteroid.
a
in some cases data were missing, i.e. percentage values correspond to numbers of patients for which full data were available.
b
data presented as mean±SD; [range].