Table 2.
Number and percentages of chronological order of events per group of patients with the same diagnosis and the number and percentage of combination inhalers (i.e. ICS plus long-acting bronchodilator) as first prescription in patients with ICS maintenance treatment
| Chronological order of events | Total | Combination inhaler | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First eventa | Second eventa | Third eventa | n (%) | n (% of total) | |
| Asthma (n = 8,507) | Asthma | → ICS | 7525 (88.5) | 3294 (43.8) | |
| ICS | → Asthma | 982 (11.5) | 514 (52.3) | ||
| COPD (n = 4,024) | COPD | → ICS | 3188 (79.2) | 2232 (70.0) | |
| ICS | → COPD | 836 (20.8) | 598 (71.5) | ||
| ACO (n = 801) | Asthma | → ICS | → COPD | 131 (16.4) | 69 (52.7) |
| Asthma | → COPD | → ICS | 124 (15.5) | 67 (54.0) | |
| COPD | → ICS | → Asthma | 31 (3.9) | 17 (54.8) | |
| COPD | → Asthma | → ICS | 59 (7.4) | 35 (59.3) | |
| ICS | → Asthma | → COPD | 27 (3.4) | 12 (44.4) | |
| ICS | → COPD | → Asthma | 12 (1.5) | 7 (58.3) | |
| Asthma/COPD | → ICS | 376 (46.9) | 240 (63.8) | ||
| ICS | → Asthma/COPD | 41 (5.1) | 29 (70.7) | ||
| Total (n = 13,332) | 7114 (53.4) | ||||
ACO asthma–COPD overlap, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ICS inhaled corticosteroids
aEvent: diagnosis of asthma ('asthma'), or diagnosis of COPD ('COPD'), or diagnosis of asthma and COPD ('asthma/COPD') on the same calendar date, or start of ICS treatment ('ICS')