Table 3.
Asthma medication prescription 6 months before and after the test-guided asthma reviews
| 6 months before asthma review (n=612) | 6 months after asthma review (n=605) | P value | ||
| Number (%) of children prescribed ≥1 course of OCS | 65 (10.6) | 38 (6.3) | 0.007* | |
| Median (IQR) dose of daily prescribed ICS per child | 200 (200–400) | 200 (200–400) | <0.001* | |
| Mean (SD) does of daily prescribed ICS per child | 191.1 (218.9) | 218.2 (213.3) | ||
| Number (%) of children by daily prescribed ICS dose (mcg) | 0 | 201 (33) | 168 (28) | |
| >0–200 | 270 (44) | 253 (42) | ||
| >200–400 | 120 (20) | 160 (26) | ||
| >400 | 21 (3) | 24 (4) | ||
| Median (IQR) number of preventer inhalers prescribed per child | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–4) | <0.001* | |
| Mean (SD) number of presenter inhalers prescribed per child | 1.41 (1.73) | 1.86 (1.97) | ||
| Number (%) of children by number of preventer inhaler prescriptions issued | 0 | 281 (46) | 196 (32.4) | |
| 1–2 | 190 (31) | 224 (37) | ||
| 3–4 | 94 (15) | 123 (20.3) | ||
| ≥5 | 47 (8) | 62 (10.3) | ||
| Median (IQR) number of salbutamol inhalers prescribed per child | 1 (0–3) | 2 (1–3) | 0.511 | |
| Mean (SD) number of Salbutamol inhalers prescribed per child | 1.77 (1.98) | 1.83 (1.97) | ||
| Number (%) of children by number of SABA inhaler prescriptions | 0 | 180 (29) | 183 (30) | |
| 1–2 | 276 (45) | 252 (42) | ||
| 3–4 | 91 (15) | 104 (17) | ||
| ≥5 | 65 (11) | 66 (11) | ||
*P<0.05.
ICS, inhaled corticosteroids; OCS, oral corticosteroids; SABA, short-acting inhaled beta agonist.