Table 1. Characteristics of the study population (n=189).

Age, n (%)
⩽45 years	87 (47.55)
>45 years	96 (52.46)
Female, n (%)	146 (77.66)
School education, n (%)
Low/medium/none	95 (51.08)
High	91 (48.92)
Anxiety and depressiona, n (%)
Neither	147 (79.89)
Either	37 (20.11)
Years since asthma diagnosis, n (%)
⩽5 years	55 (30.39)
>5 years	126 (69.61)
Reported needs in asthma treatmentb, n (%)
Information on how asthma drugs operatec	86 (46.24)
Information from physician about side effectsc	102 (54.84)
Information about interactions of asthma drugs with other medicationc,d	103 (67.76)
Information about how to take asthma medicationse	23 (12.50)
Information about whether asthma inhaler may be taken more often than prescribede	54 (29.03)
Practice under professional guidance how to handle your inhalere	17 (9.04)
Information about what to do during an asthma attackf	60 (32.09)
Family members/friends know how to help during an asthma attackf	78 (41.49)
Practice under professional guidance breathing techniquesf	79 (42.47)
Would like physician to ask about individual asthma triggers during diagnosisg	58 (30.85)
Would like physician to consider personal circumstances to a larger extent in asthma treatmentg	71 (37.97)
Would like physician to consider patient’s asthma knowledge to a larger extentg	54 (28.88)
Would like physician to make more time in case of special requestsg	77 (40.96)

^aMeasured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-4.

^bMeasured by the Needs in Asthma Treatment (NEAT) questionnaire.

^cItems comprising the NEAT subscale ‘drug effects’.

^dThe denominator for that particular item was n=152 as responses were only provided by participants who took medication both for asthma and other conditions.

^eNEAT subscale ‘handling drugs’.

^fNEAT subscale ‘exacerbations’.

^gNEAT subscale ‘patient expertise’.