B/F | B | F | Placebo | |
Time to first exacerbation | ||||
Median number of days | 254 | 178 | 154 | 96 |
#RR (95% CI) B/F versus other groups+ | 0.773 (0.611–0.980)* | 0.705 (0.558–0.891)** | 0.715 (0.562–0.910) | |
p‐value¶ | 0.006 | 0.512 | 0.901 | |
Total number of exacerbations | ||||
Mean rate per patient per year | 1.38 | 1.60 | 1.85 | 1.80 |
RR (95% CI) B/F versus other groups+ | 0.864 (0.679–1.100) | 0.745 (0.587–0.945)* | 0.764 (0.600–0.973) | |
p‐value¶ | 0.029 | 0.308 | 0.828 | |
Exacerbations requiring oral corticosteroids | ||||
Mean rate per patient per year | 0.63 | 0.87 | 0.91 | 1.14 |
RR (95% CI) B/F versus other groups+ | 0.718 (0.543–0.949)* | 0.695 (0.523–0.923)* | 0.553 (0.420–0.728) | |
p‐value¶ | <0.001 | 0.044 | 0.085 |
B: budesonide
F: formoterol
RR: rate ratio
CI: confidence interval
#: a RR of 0.715 represents a reduction in rate of 28.5%
¶: versus placebo
+: rates from Poisson regression model
RR is hazard ratio from Cox proportional hazards model
*: p<0.05 in favour of budesonide/formoterol
**: p<0.01 in favour of budesonide/formoterol