Table 1

Baseline demographics and clinical characteristics of UK patients with asthma receiving intermittent OCS

Non-OCS (never users) n=476 167*Any OCS n=476 167 (100%)One-off OCS n=198 422 (41.7%)Less frequent OCS† n=127 419 (26.8%)Frequent OCS‡ n=150 326 (31.6%)
Age, mean, years (SD)38.1 (22.4)38.1 (22.4)35.6 (22.3)36.9 (22.1)42.4 (22.2)
Age category, n (%)
 4–<12 years76 859 (16.1)77.131 (16.2)35 478 (17.9)22 568 (17.7)19 085 (12.7)
 12–<18 years36 329 (7.6)36 262 (7.6)19 336 (9.7)9518 (7.5)7408 (4.9)
 18–<65 years292 846 (61.5)292 778 (61.5)118 163 (59.6)78 572 (61.7)96 043 (63.9)
 ≥65 years70 133 (14.7)69 996 (14.7)25 445 (12.8)16 761 (13.2)27 790 (18.5)
Female, %55.755.751.856.360.2
Follow-up, median, years (IQR)9.0 (4.7, 14.7)8.3 (4.2, 13.7)6.4 (3.1, 11.5)9.8 (5.6, 14.9)9.6 (5.1, 15.2)
Time in database pre index, median, years (IQR)16.8 (7.8, 30.4)17.0 (7.5, 31.1)15.1 (6.9, 28.3)16.2 (7.2, 30.1)20.6 (9.1, 34.9)
BMI
 Underweight, n (%)23 904 (5.0)35 998 (7.6)15 159 (7.6)10 257 (8.0)10 553 (7.0)
 Normal, n (%)144 517 (30.4)138 469 (29.1)56 728 (28.6)37 665 (29.6)44 061 (29.3)
 Overweight, n (%)102 328 (21.5)109 042 (22.9)42 521 (21.4)28 899 (22.7)37 612 (25.0)
 Obese, n (%)66 473 (14.0)100 995 (21.2)36 410 (18.3)26 529 (20.8)38 048 (25.3)
 Unknown, n (%)138 946 (29.2)91 710 (19.3)47 601 (24.0)24 057 (18.9)20 038 (13.3)
 Mean (SD)25.8 (5.9)26.6 (7.0)26.2 (6.8)26.5 (6.9)27.2 (7.1)
Smoking status, n (%§)
 Never135 708 (28.5)141 231 (29.7)60 921 (30.7)37 512 (29.4)42 813 (28.5)
 Current117 089 (24.6)131 851 (27.7)53 508 (27.0)34 951 (27.4)43 384 (28.9)
 Ex67 711 (14.2)84 377 (17.7)33 951 (17.1)21 075 (16.5)29 375 (19.5)
 Unknown155 659 (32.7)118 708 (24.9)50 042 (25.2)33 881 (26.6)34 754 (23.1)
SABA prescriptions; n (%)
 0470 929 (98.9)113 262 (23.8)44 766 (22.6)30 987 (24.3)37 507 (25.0)
 1–23524 (0.7)213 594 (44.9)96 751 (48.8)55 660 (43.7)61 183 (40.7)
 3–111476 (0.3)133 255 (28.0)51 519 (26.0)36 602 (28.7)45 134 (30.0)
 ≥12238 (0.0)16 056 (3.4)5384 (2.7)4170 (3.3)6502 (4.3)
ICS prescriptions; n (%)
 0472 462 (99.2)191 141 (40.1)80 403 (40.5)50 177 (39.4)60 560 (40.3)
 1–32354 (0.5)183 159 (38.5)79 561 (40.1)50 015 (39.2)53 583 (35.6)
 4–6747 (0.2)59 230 (12.4)22 712 (11.4)16 260 (12.8)20 258 (13.5)
 7–9310 (0.1)23 952 (5.0)8874 (4.5)6315 (4.9)8763 (5.8)
 10–12179 (0.0)11 968 (2.5)4393 (2.2)3043 (2.4)4532 (3.0)
 ≥13115 (0.0)6718 (1.4)2479 (1.2)1609 (1.3)2630 (1.7)
  • *Non-OCS patients were matched with all patients receiving OCS prescriptions according to 1:1 ratio.

  • †Patients who received all OCS prescriptions with a gap of ≥90 days.

  • ‡Patients who received at least some OCS prescriptions with a gap of <90 days, allowing for other prescription gaps to be ≥90 days.

  • §Only the percentages of patient with known smoking status were calculated.

  • BMI, body mass index; ICS, inhaled corticosteroid; OCS, oral corticosteroid; SABA, short-acting β2 agonist.