Demographics, history of asthma and asthma treatment
| Group S | Group N | p‐value | |
| Patients n | 37 | 29 | |
| Age yrs | 44±2 | 30±2 | <0.001 |
| Male sex | 35.1% | 13.8% | <0.05 |
| Age at diagnosis yrs | 14 (5–32) | 18 (3–18) | ns |
| Asthma duration yrs | 25±2 | 15±2 | <0.001 |
| Smoking % current and past smokers | 40.5% | 20.7% | ns |
| Tobacco consumption pack-yrs | 0 (0–5.75) | 0 (0–0) | ns |
| Atopy % | 54.1% | 55.2% | ns |
| Hospital admissions for asthma# | 2 (1–3.5) | 3 (1–4) | ns |
| History of mechanical ventilation | 43.2% | 17.2% | <0.05 |
| Current prednisolone dose mg·day−1 | 17.1±3.0 | 16.6±2.5 | ns |
| Oral steroid short-course in the last yr¶ | 4 (3–5) | 5 (4–5) | <0.05 |
| Inhaled steroid dose mg·day−1 BDP equivalent+ | 3.4±0.4 | 3.4±0.3 | ns |
| Theophylline mg·day−1 | 416±80 | 393±68 | ns |
| Inhaled long-acting β2‐agonist puffs·day−1 | 3.3±0.4 | 3.8±0.5 | ns |
| Inhaled short-acting β2‐agonist puffs·day−1 | 10.3±1.5 | 6.6±1.3 | ns |
| Subcutaneous terbutaline % users | 10.8% | 41.4% | <0.01 |
| Nebulised rapid-acting β2‐agonist % users | 32.4% | 55.2% | ns |
Data are presented as n, percentage, mean±sem or median (interquartile range) unless stated otherwise
BDP: beclomethasone dipropionate
ns: nonsignificant
#: 1=no admissions, 2=one admission, 3=two to four admissions, 4=five to 10 admissions, 5=>10 admissions
¶: 0=no courses, 1=one course, 2=two courses, 3=three to five courses, 4=more than five courses, 5=continuous oral steroid in the last year
+: inhaled corticosteroid dose was transformed into equivalent BDP mg·day−1
budesonide was considered equivalent to BDP and fluticasone propionate equivalent to twice the dose of BDP