Figure 3.

Individual patterns of daily salbutamol and budesonide/formoterol use in the 14 days before hospital attendance in the Standard group. Hospital attendances owing to Emergency Department (ED) visit or hospital admission are specified for each participant. The x axis is days preceding or following the first hospital attendance (i.e., day −1 refers to the 24 h before the first hospital attendance, day 1 refers to the 24 h following the first hospital attendance). Data extraction was for fourteen 24-h periods before the attendance time at hospital. The y axis is the number of actuations per 24 h. Horizontal dashed lines represent the thresholds of β₂-agonist use per day above which self-management plans recommend medical review (>16 actuations of salbutamol per day for Standard patients). (d) The participant self-initiated prednisone (40 mg per day for 14 days) for asthma on day −11 (with subsequent medical review by a general practitioner (GP) on day −9). (g) The participant was prescribed prednisone (40 mg per day for 7 days) for asthma by a general practitioner on day −9. (h) The participant was prescribed prednisone (40 mg per day for 4 days) for asthma by a general practitioner on day −7. (i) The participant had two ED visits, identified by the solid arrows, and there were no data before day −6, as this was the day of the first study visit (randomisation visit). The participant was prescribed prednisone (40 mg per day for 7 days). (c) and (f) refer to two episodes in the same participant, occurring 4 months apart.