Table 1. Characteristics of the study population.
| Characteristic | Intervention group (n=41) | Control group (n=41) | All (n=82) | Group comparison (p-value) |
| Male sex, n (%) | 26 (63) | 24 (59) | 50 (61) | 0.82*1 |
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 49 (12) | 52 (8) | 50 (10) | 0.18*2 |
| BMI in kg/m², mean (SD) | 29.5 (5.8) | 29.9 (4.8) | 29.7 (5.3) | 0.79*2 |
| Smoking status (current/ex/never) | 4/10/27 | 6/10/25 | 10/20/52 | 0.79*3 |
| Education status | 0.56*3 | |||
| General secondary school (<10 years), n (%) | 16 (39) | 21 (51) | 37 (45) | |
| Intermediate secondary school (10 years), n (%) | 15 (37) | 13 (32) | 28 (34) | |
| High school, n (%) | 9 (22) | 7 (17) | 16 (20) | |
| Other, n (%) | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 (1) | |
| Lung function parameters | ||||
| FEV1 (% of pred.), mean (SD) | 82.6 (21.9) | 80.9 (20.4) | 0.73*2 | |
| FEV1/FVC, mean (SD) | 72.2 (13.5) | 71.6 (12.6) | 0.83*2 | |
| FEV1/FVC (% of pred.), mean (SD) | 91.3 (16.9) | 90.0 (15.5) | 0.93*2 | |
| Asthma status | 0.30*3 | |||
| Well-controlled asthma, n (%) | 7 (17) | 3 (7) | 10 (12) | |
| Partially controlled asthma, n (%) | 14 (34) | 19 (46) | 33 (40) | |
| Uncontrolled asthma, n (%) | 20 (49) | 19 (46) | 49 (48) | |
| Years since original diagnosis, mean (SD) | 15 (12) | 21 (17) | 18 (5) | 0.08*2 |
| Outpatient treatments for asthma during previous 12 months | 0.95*3 | |||
| None, n (%) | 34 (85) | 36 (88) | 70 (86) | |
| One, n (%) | 3 (8) | 3 (7) | 6 (7) | |
| Two, n (%) | 1 (3) | 1 (3) | 2 (3) | |
| Three, n (%) | 2 (5) | 1 (2) | 3 (4) | |
| Previous asthma education programs | 0.71*3 | |||
| None, n (%) | 14 (34) | 16 (41) | 30 (38) | |
| One, n (%) | 20 (49) | 19 (49) | 39 (49) | |
| Two, n (%) | 2 (5) | 2 (5) | 4 (5) | |
| More than two, n (%) | 5 (12) | 2 (5) | 7 (9) | |
| Asthma medication | ||||
| ICS, n (%) | 39 (95) | 39 (95) | 78 (95) | 1.00*1 |
| SABA, n (%) | 33 (81) | 30 (73) | 63 (77) | 1.00*1 |
| LABA, n (%) | 36 (88) | 36 (88) | 72 (88) | 1.00*1 |
| LAMA, n (%) | 12 (29) | 13 (32) | 25 (31) | 1.00*1 |
| Montelukast, n (%) | 2 (5) | 1 (2) | 3 (4) | 1.00*1 |
| Theophylline, n (%) | 2 (5) | 1 (2) | 3 (4) | 1.00*1 |
| Omalizumab, n (%) | 1 (2) | 1 (2) | 2 (2) | 1.00*1 |
*1 Fisher‘s exact test; *2 t-test for independent variables; *3 chi-squared test
BMI, Body mass index; FEV1, 1-s capacity; FVC, forced vital capacity; ICS, inhaled corticosteroids; LABA, long-acting beta-2 agonists; LAMA, long-acting muscarinic antagonists; SABA, short-acting beta agonists; SD, standard deviation