Asthma diagnosis in men and women with asthma-like symptoms and bronchial hyperresponsiveness
| Subjects diagnosed with asthma* in men and women with asthma-like symptoms and BHR (n/N) % | ||||||
| All subjects | Non-smokers§ | Current smokers | ||||
| Men | (105/306) | 34.3 | (73/169) | 43.2 | (31/130) | 23.9 |
| Women | (131/463) | 28.3 | (97/256) | 37.9 | (31/199) | 15.6 |
| p Value† | p=0.08 | p=0.27 | p=0.06 | |||
| Atopic subjects | ||||||
| Men | (80/191) | 41.9 | (56/120) | 46.7 | (23/64) | 35.9 |
| Women | (88/223) | 39.5 | (67/148) | 45.3 | (19/71) | 26.8 |
| p Value† | p=0.62 | p=0.82 | p=0.25 | |||
| Non-atopic subjects‡ | ||||||
| Men | (12/77) | 15.6 | (9/27) | 33.3 | (3/50) | 6.0 |
| Women | (29/182) | 15.9 | (20/83) | 24.1 | (9/98) | 9.2 |
| p Value† | p=0.94 | p=0.34 | p=0.75 | |||
↵* Data from ECRHS-I, stage 2. Proportion of subjects reporting current doctor-diagnosed asthma among subjects with BHR and asthma-like symptom (breathless while wheezing, woken up with a feeling of chest tightness, attack of shortness of breath at rest, attack of shortness of breath after exercise, and woken by an attack of shortness of breath) in the last 12 months.
↵† p Values are for gender differences in the proportion of subjects reporting a diagnosis of asthma (χ2 test or Fisher exact test when number of subjects is low).
↵‡ Overall, there were 6032 men and 6050 women with IgE to the four allergens tested of whom 77 (1.28%) men and 182 (3.01%) women had asthma-like symptoms and BHR but no atopic sensitisation.
↵§ Non-smokers include never smokers and smokers who had quit smoking for more than 1 year.