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. 2023 Jan 18;11(2):e218–e228. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00506-X

Table 1.

Children receiving inhaled and oral asthma medicines according to symptom severity stratified by country income group

High-income countries (n=2863)
Upper-middle-income countries (n=2699)
Lower-middle-income and low-income countries (n=883)
Asymptomatic (n=1446) Mild symptoms (n=746) Severe symptoms (n=671) Asymptomatic (n=927) Mild symptoms (n=641) Severe symptoms (n=1131) Asymptomatic (n=406) Mild symptoms (n=194) Severe symptoms (n=283)
Inhaled medicine*
SABA (n=3628) 442 (30·6%) 513 (68·8%) 545 (81·2%) 315 (34·0%) 482 (75·2%) 965 (85·3%) 119 (29·3%) 90 (46·4%) 157 (55·5%)
LABA (n=200) 17 (1·2%) 30 (4·0%) 31 (4·6%) 10 (1·1%) 19 (3·0%) 32 (2·8%) 17 (4·2%) 17 (8·8%) 27 (9·5%)
Corticosteroids (n=2003) 283 (19·6%) 298 (40·0%) 348 (51·9%) 141 (15·2%) 244 (38·1%) 527 (46·6%) 51 (12·6%) 46 (23·7%) 65 (23·0%)
Corticosteroids and LABA (n=1036) 122 (8·4%) 142 (19·0%) 186 (27·7%) 83 (9·0%) 136 (21·2%) 258 (22·8%) 30 (7·4%) 28 (14·4%) 51 (18·0%)
Any inhaled medicine (n=4088) 527 (36·4%) 550 (73·7%) 588 (87·6%) 384 (41·4%) 533 (83·2%) 1014 (89·7%) 158 (38·9%) 120 (61·9%) 214 (75·6%)
Oral medicine*
LTRA (n=1243) 115 (8·0%) 134 (18·0%) 162 (24·1%) 128 (13·8%) 203 (31·7%) 369 (32·6%) 34 (8·4%) 33 (17·0%) 65 (23·0%)
Corticosteroids (n=1309) 95 (6·6%) 181 (24·3%) 259 (38·6%) 92 (9·9%) 133 (20·7%) 335 (29·6%) 75 (18·5%) 52 (26·8%) 87 (30·7%)
SABA (n=1573) 162 (11·2%) 188 (25·2%) 232 (34·6%) 151 (16·3%) 208 (32·4%) 468 (41·4%) 38 (9·4%) 46 (23·7%) 80 (28·3%)
Theophylline (n=319) 28 (1·9%) 28 (3·8%) 32 (4·8%) 25 (2·7%) 26 (4·1%) 46 (4·1%) 42 (10·3%) 36 (18·6%) 56 (19·8%)
Any oral medicine (n=3014) 285 (19·7%) 331 (44·4%) 413 (61·5%) 296 (31·9%) 413 (64·4%) 820 (72·5%) 161 (39·7%) 107 (55·2%) 188 (66·4%)
Asthma management plan (n=4049) 756 (52·3%) 435 (58·3%) 473 (70·5%) 597 (64·4%) 447 (69·7%) 818 (72·3%) 214 (52·7%) 112 (57·7%) 197 (69·6%)

Data are n (%) where denominators are the total number in each symptom severity category per income group. Percentages with 95% CIs clustered by centre are provided in appendix 2 (p 5). SABA=short-acting β2 agonist. LABA=long-acting β2 agonist. LTRA=leukotriene receptor antagonist.

*

Drug therapy groups are not mutually exclusive and participants could be represented in more than one group.

Combined in the same inhaler; patients using LABA and corticosteroids in separate inhalers were included in the corresponding single-agent treatment groups.