Table 2.
Patient characteristics
| Characteristic | Overall, n=884 |
Site 1 (academic), n=429 |
Site 2 (academic), n=245 |
Site 3 (non-academic), n=210 |
P value |
| Mean age±SD (years) | 46.0±17.5 | 49.3±17.9 | 43.9±17.4 | 42.7±15.9 | <0.01 |
| Sex, n (%) | 0.604 | ||||
| Female | 638 (72.1) | 307 (71.6) | 174 (71.0) | 157 (74.8) | |
| Male | 246 (27.9) | 123 (28.7) | 71 (29.0) | 53 (25.2) | |
| Smoking status, n (%) | <0.01 | ||||
| Non-smoker | 442 (49.8) | 226 (52.7) | 109 (44.5) | 107 (50.0) | |
| Ex-smoker | 132 (14.9) | 80 (18.6) | 32 (13.1) | 20 (9.5) | |
| Smoker | 168 (19.0) | 75 (17.5) | 47 (19.2) | 46 (21.9) | |
| Not documented | 142 (16.1) | 48 (11.2) | 57 (23.3) | 37 (17.6) | |
| Comorbidities, n (%) | |||||
| Atopy | 359 (40.6) | 192 (44.8) | 104 (42.4) | 63 (30.0) | <0.01 |
| COPD | 68 (7.7) | 46 (10.7) | 13 (5.3) | 9 (4.3) | <0.01 |
| Other resp. diagnosis | 16 (1.8) | 10 (2.3) | 5 (2.0) | 1 (0.5) | 0.243 |
| Previous diagnostic testing, n (%) | |||||
| Spirometry | 342 (38.7) | 198 (46.2) | 97 (39.6) | 47 (22.4) | <0.01 |
| Bronchodilator challenge (% of spirometries) |
237 (69.3) | 137 (69.2) | 64 (66.0) | 36 (76.6) | 0.432 |
| Methacholine challenge | 88 (10.0) | 52 (12.1) | 30 (12.2) | 6 (2.9) | <0.01 |
| Baseline medications, n (%) | |||||
| Short-acting bronchodilator | 564 (63.8) | 281 (65.5) | 149 (60.8) | 57 (27.1) | <0.01 |
| Inhaled corticosteroid alone* | 150 (17.0) | 87 (20.3) | 45 (18.4) | 18 (8.6) | <0.01 |
| Inhaled corticosteroid with long-acting beta-agonist | 132 (14.9) | 67 (15.6) | 30 (12.2) | 35 (16.7) | 0.359 |
| Long-acting beta-agonist alone | 6 (0.7) | 4 (0.9) | 1 (0.4) | 1 (0.5) | 0.669 |
| Leukotriene receptor antagonist | 21 (2.4) | 10 (2.3) | 9 (3.7) | 2 (1.0) | 0.515 |
| Prednisone† | 9 (1.0) | 6 (1.4) | 2 (0.8) | 1 (0.5) | 0.041 |
*Without concurrent use of a long-acting beta-agonist in a combination inhaler or as a separate inhaler.
†Includes only those patients who use prednisone chronically.
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; resp., respiratory.