Table III.

Salbutamol prescription rates in 2019 to 2020

Characteristic	n	2019 (n = 1132) Median (IQR)	2020 (n = 1132) Median (IQR)	z	P value∗
Overall salbutamol use (inhalers/patient)		2.0 (0.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	−2.069	.039
Sex
Female	630	2.0 (0.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	−1.318	.187
Male	502	2.0 (0.0-4.0)	2.0 (0.0-3.0)	−1.648	.099
Age
5-17	103	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	2 (1.0-4.0)	−1.346	.178
18-39	545	1.0 (0.0-2.0)	1 (0.0-2.0)	0.478	633
40-64	360	2.0 (1.0-6.0)	2 (1.0-5.0)	−2.218	.027
≥65	124	4.0 (2.0-7.0)	3 (1.0-6.0)	−1.553	.121
Ethnicity
White	641	1.0 (0.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-3.0)	−0.404	.686
Black	267	2.0 (1.0-6.0)	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	−3.718	<.001
Asian	137	2.0 (0-3.0)	1.0 (0.0-4.0)	−0.199	.842
Not specified	87	1.0 (0.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-4.0)		.445
GINA treatment step
Salbutamol only	250	1.0 (0.0-2.0)	1.0 (0.0-2.0)	1.331	.183
Step 2	498	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-3.0)	−1.167	.243
Step 3	150	1.0 (0.0–4.3)	1.0 (0.0-4.0)	−1.628	.104
Step 4	184	4.0 (1.0-7.0)	3.0 (1.0-7.0)	−2.509	.012
Step 5	50	3.5 (2.0-8.3)	4.0 (2.0-7.3)	−0.169	.866
Smoking status
Never smoker	824	2.0 (0.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-3.0)	−1.824	.068
Current smoker	149	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	2.0 (1.0-4.0)	−1.647	.100
Previous smoker		2.0 (0.0-5.0)	2.0 (1.0-5.0)		.962
No. of patients, n (%)
0 inhalers	159	311 (27.4)	268 (23.7)	−0.047	.001
1-3 inhalers		479 (42.3)	565 (49.9)		<.001
>3 inhalers		342 (30.3)	299 (26.4)		<.001

GINA, Global Initiative for Asthma; IQR, interquartile range.

Data presented as number (n) and median (interquartile range).

^∗Wilcoxon signed rank test.