Table 3.

Crude incidence rates and incidence rate ratios of 11 study outcomes among asthma patients, stratified by non-use, ever use, and current use of oral prednisolone

Use of oral prednisolone	Bone-related conditions	Hypertension	Peptic ulcer	Severe infections	Herpes zoster	DM2	Cataract	Glaucoma	CKD	Affective disorders	Cardiovascular events
Non-use (reference)
Cases, n	6174	5867	591	10,115	2882	3534	3639	1057	6034	3602	2868
Person-years	509,914	493,646	631,164	567,254	614,128	609,903	618,128	633,404	616,192	402,782	607,320
IR/ 1000 person-years (95% CI)	12.1 (11.8–12.4)	11.9 (11.6–12.2)	0.9 (0.9–1.0)	17.8 (17.5–18.2)	4.7 (4.5–4.9)	5.8 (5.6–6.0)	5.9 (5.7–6.1)	1.7 (1.6–1.8)	9.8 (9.5–10.0)	8.9 (8.7–9.2)	4.7 (4.5–4.9)
Ever use
Cases, n	2753	2295	245	6077	1293	1661	1717	416	2791	1363	1160
Person-years	172,484	159,919	219,711	177,156	210,560	210,152	212,161	220,804	208,916	122,796	209,638
IR/1000 person-years (95% CI)	16.0 (15.4–16.6)	14.4 (13.8–14.9)	1.1 (1.0–1.3)	34.3 (33.4–35.2)	6.1 (5.8–6.5)	7.9 (7.5–8.3)	8.1 (7.7–8.5)	1.9 (1.7–2.1)	13.4 (12.9–13.9)	11.1 (10.5–11.7)	5.5 (5.2–5.9)
IRR (95% CI)	1.3 (1.3–1.4)	1.2 (1.2–1.3)	1.2 (1.0–1.4)	1.9 (1.9–2.0)	1.3 (1.2–1.4)	1.4 (1.3–1.4)	1.4 (1.3–1.5)	1.1 (1.0–1.3)	1.4 (1.3–1.4)	1.2 (1.2–1.3)	1.2 (1.1–1.3)
Current use
Cases, n	533	451	51	2268	257	398	272	62	541	269	236
Person-years	29,141	27,032	36,864	29,074	35,586	35,468	35,723	37,125	35,364	19,803	35,269
IR/1000 person-years (95% CI)	18.3 (16.7–19.8)	16.7 (15.1–18.2)	1.4 (1.0–1.8)	78.0 (74.8–81.2)	7.2 (6.3–8.1)	11.2 (10.1–12.3)	7.6 (6.7–8.5)	1.7 (1.3–2.1)	15.3 (14.0–16.6)	13.6 (12.0–15.2)	6.7 (5.8–7.5)
IRR (95% CI)	1.5 (1.4–1.6)	1.4 (1.3–1.5)	1.5 (1.1–2.0)	4.4 (4.2–4.6)	1.5 (1.4–1.7)	1.9 (1.7–2.2)	1.3 (1.1–1.5)	1.0 (0.8–1.3)	1.6 (1.4–1.7)	1.5 (1.3–1.7)	1.4 (1.2–1.6)

Abbreviations: CI confidence interval, CKD chronic kidney disease, DM2 diabetes mellitus type 2, IR incidence rate, IRR incidence rate ratio