Demographic characteristics and asthma severity of the sample (n = 230)
| Characteristic | Primary care(n = 152, 66.1%) | Specialist respiratory centre(n = 78, 33.9%) | Total sample(n = 230) |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Includes housewives and registered disabled. | |||
| Age (years) | |||
| Mean | 51.2 | 53.3 | 51.9 |
| Median | 50.5 | 54.0 | 51.5 |
| SD | 16.7 | 13.4 | 15.6 |
| Range | 19–94 | 22–79 | 19–94 |
| Sex | |||
| Men | 62 (40.8) | 35 (44.9) | 97 (42.2) |
| Women | 90 (59.2) | 43 (55.1) | 133 (57.8) |
| Duration of condition (years) | |||
| Mean | 23.4 | 18.9 | 21.9 |
| Median | 18.5 | 15.0 | 17.3 |
| SD | 17.6 | 15.9 | 17.2 |
| Range | 0.5–77 | 1–62 | 0.5–77 |
| Highest level of education | |||
| No formal qualifications | 32 (21.1%) | 17 (21.8%) | 49 (21.3%) |
| Sub-degree | 44 (28.9%) | 22 (28.2%) | 66 (28.7%) |
| Degree and above | 33 (21.8%) | 12 (15.4%) | 45 (19.6%) |
| Professional/work related qualifications | 43 (28.3%) | 27 (34.6%) | 70 (30.4%) |
| Socioeconomic group (after NS-SEC20) | |||
| 1 (higher managerial and professional) | 29 (19.1%) | 14 (17.9%) | 43 (18.7%) |
| 2 (lower managerial and professional) | 22 (14.5%) | 8 (10.3%) | 30 (13.0%) |
| 3 (intermediate) | 10 (6.6%) | 5 (6.4%) | 15 (6.5%) |
| 4 (small employers and ownaccount workers) | 1 (0.7%) | 0 | 1 (0.4%) |
| 5 (lower supervisory and technical) | 4 (2.6%) | 1 (1.3%) | 5 (2.2%) |
| 6 (semi-routine) | 20 (13.2%) | 7 (9.0%) | 27 (11.7%) |
| 7 (routine) | 10 (6.6%) | 8 (10.3%) | 18 (7.8%) |
| 8 (never worked and long term unemployed*) | 8 (5.3%) | 8 (10.3%) | 16 (7.0%) |
| Student | 3 (2.0%) | 2 (2.6%) | 5 (2.2%) |
| Retired | 45 (29.6%) | 25 (32.1%) | 70 (30.5%) |
| Asthma severity (after BTS/SIGN6) | |||
| Step 1 (mild intermittent asthma) | 20 (13.2%) | 3 (3.8%) | 23 (10.0%) |
| Step 2 (introduction of regularpreventer therapy) | 68 (44.7%) | 24 (30.8%) | 92 (40.0%) |
| Step 3 (add-on therapy) | 37 (24.3%) | 18 (23.1%) | 55 (23.9%) |
| Step 4 (poor control on moderate dose of inhaled steroid + add-on therapy: addition of fourth drug) | 25 (16.4%) | 25 (32.1%) | 50 (21.7%) |
| Step 5 (continuous or frequent use of oral steroids) | 2 (1.3%) | 8 (10.3%) | 10 (4.4%) |