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. 2021 Aug 6;77(2):199–202. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2021-217325

Table 1.

Biomarker-stratified data and rate ratios derived from included trials

Blood Eos
(×109/L)		 FeNO
(ppb)		 Novel START4 CAPTAIN5 Pooled AZ trials:
Benralizumab 2b, PATHWAY, STRATOS 1–27 		QUEST6 DREAM3 Aggregate data for the prototype risk scale
Step 1 asthma; low risk; 9% with attack in past 12 months Step 4 asthma; high risk; 62% with attack in past 12 months 1% step 3 asthma, 50% step 4 asthma, 49% step 5 asthma; high risk; with attack in past 12 months 47% step 4 asthma, 53% step 5 asthma; high risk; with attack in past 12 months Step 5 asthma; high risk; with attack in past 12 months
N† Attack rate‡ Rate ratio N Attack rate‡ Rate ratio N† Attack rate Rate ratio N Attack rate Rate ratio N Attack rate Rate ratio N Rate ratio
<0.15 <25 18 0.05 0.98 228 0.85 0.54 199 0.58 0.81 106 0.56 0.52 23 1.98 0.76 574 0.65
25–<50 23 0.00 0.00 40 0.10 1.11 82 0.46 0.64 35 0.62 0.61 (9) (1.78) (0.71) 180 0.66
≥50 8 0.00 0.00 17 0.15 1.74 23 0.57 0.81 21 0.53 0.53 69 0.86
0.15–<0.30 <25 19 0.07 1.50 240 0.07 0.82 191 0.56 0.76 96 0.82 0.80 12 1.54 0.59 558 0.81
25–<50 42 0.02 0.36 87 0.07 0.79 173 0.67 0.96 53 1.14 1.17 (23) (2.70) (1.07) 355 0.88
≥50 32 0.01 0.24 24 0.12 1.43 52 1.29 1.93 25 0.48 0.47 133 1.16
≥0.30 <25 4 0.30 6.35 248 0.11 1.29 102 0.58 0.82 89 0.84 0.84 18 1.95 0.75 461 1.12
25–<50 22 0.00 0.00 147 0.09 1.00 133 0.87 1.30 97 1.24 1.31 (66) (3.08) (1.22) 399 1.12
≥50 51 0.13 4.40 66 0.18 2.14 107 1.01 1.53 98 1.78 2.12 322 2.29
Analysed 219 0.05 1.00 1097 0.09 1.00 1062 0.70 1.00 620 0.99 1.00 151 2.52 1.00 3051 1.00
Missing* 4 121 120 14 4 262
Total 223 1218 1182 634 155 3313

Aggregate ratios in bold (rightmost column) are those included to derive the prototype risk scale: in effect, an aggregate rate ratio is a mean fold change in the asthma attack rate for patients with that biomarker combination. Numbers between brackets were extracted to calculate frequency-weighted rate ratios but were not used to derive the scale, as this analysis was stratified using only two cut points for fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO <25 or ≥25 ppb).

Blood Eos, peripheral blood eosinophil count; n, number of patients.

*Missing data were excluded from analyses.

†For Novel START and the pooled AstraZeneca (AZ) trials, we regrouped the data of patients with a baseline FeNO of 20–<50 ppb into our 25–<50 ppb group, as the difference of 5 ppb in FeNO is not clinically relevant.

‡For both the Novel START and CAPTAIN, only the percentage of patients with one or more severe attack(s) in the 52 weeks of follow-up was reported, so we imputed the annualised rate as –log10(1 − %incidence).