| Nonasthmatic subjects | Asthmatic patients | p-value | |
| Subjects | 125 157 | 31 356 | |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 63 896 (51.1) | 15 966 (50.9) | 0.67 |
| Male | 61 261 (49.0) | 15 390 (49.1) | |
| Age years | 38.9±25.7 | 38.8±26.2 | 0.26# |
| Stratified age | |||
| ≤50 years | 76 580 (61.2) | 19 225 (61.3) | 0.92 |
| 50–65 years | 22 459 (17.9) | 5604 (17.9) | |
| ≥65 years | 26 118 (20.9) | 6527 (20.8) | |
| Comorbidity | |||
| Atrial fibrillation | 731 (0.58) | 329 (1.05) | <0.0001 |
| Diabetes | 11 370 (9.08) | 3528 (11.3) | <0.0001 |
| Hyperlipidaemia | 15 065 (12.0) | 5036 (16.1) | <0.0001 |
| CVD | 8902 (7.11) | 3019 (9.63) | <0.0001 |
| Heart failure | 2073 (1.66) | 1334 (4.25) | <0.0001 |
| Lower leg fracture or surgery | 1644 (1.31) | 528 (1.68) | <0.0001 |
| Cancer | 4005 (3.20) | 1171 (3.73) | <0.0001 |
| Oestrogen supplementation | 17 372 (13.9) | 5252 (16.8) | <0.0001 |
Data are presented as n, n (%) or mean±sd, unless otherwise stated. p-values were calculated using the Chi-squared test, unless otherwise stated. CVD: cerebrovascular disease. #: two-sample t-test.