Table 1– Patients’ characteristics according to ICS/R03 drug ratio in 2007

	ICS/R03			ICS+LTRA/R03
	Low-ratio group^#	High-ratio group^¶	p-value	Low-ratio group⁺	High-ratio group^§	p-value
Subjects n	792	966		548	1279
Mean age^ƒ years	27.2	28.1	0.04	27.7	27.4	0.59
Males %	45.4	47.7	0.34	44.0	48.2	0.10
Long-term disease status^## %	12.6	7.4	0.0003	11.7	8.7	0.04
Free-access-to-care status^¶¶ %	18.3	13.8	0.009	18.8	14.4	0.02
Medical resource utilisation in 2007
≥1 visit to a respiratory physician⁺⁺ %	2.9	4.4	0.09	2.6	4.2	0.08
Mean visits to family physician	7.0	5.7	0.0002	7.3	5.7	<0.0001
Controllers
ICS (other than LABA–ICS fixed combination)
≥1 unit %	48.4	30.0	<0.0001	53.1	30.0	<0.0001
Mean number of dispensed units	2.02	0.98		2.12	1.09	<0.0001
LABA–ICS fixed combination
≥1 unit %	65.5	81.7	<0.0001	58.2	77.3	<0.0001
Mean number of dispensed units	3.04	4.79	<0.0001	2.40	4.46	<0.0001
Mean number of ICS units (any type)	5.06	5.77	<0.0001	4.52	5.55	<0.0001
LABA (not in LABA–ICS fixed combination)
≥1 unit %	28.7	6.6	<0.0001	33.3	8.9	<0.0001
Mean number of dispensed units	1.91	0.23	<0.0001	2.30	0.40	<0.0001
LTRA
≥1 unit %	45.3	11.6	<0.0001	21.0	33.2	<0.0001
Mean number of dispensed units	2.77	0.39	<0.0001	0.90	1.95	<0.0001

ICS: inhaled corticosteroid; RO3: Anatomical Therapeutic and Chemical classification system code for asthma therapy; LTRA: leukotriene receptor antagonists. ^#: 0%<ICS/R03<50%; ^¶: ICS/R03 ≥50%; ⁺: 0%<ICS+LTRA/RO3<50%; ^§: ICS+LTRA/RO3≥50%; ^ƒ: age in 2005; ^##: patients are dispensed their asthma therapy without advancing the money at the pharmacy; ^¶¶: patients with socioeconomic difficulties receive free care; ⁺⁺: respiratory physicians with a private consulting room (dispensing resulting from prescriptions from hospital respiratory physicians cannot be identified in the data).