Table 1

Baseline characteristics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients taking fluticasone propionate (FP) and/or salmeterol and reference patients

	FP and salmeterol	FP alone	Salmeterol alone	Reference
Patients n	317	431	297	3620
Female %	52.7*	52.7*	49.2*	44.2
Age at diagnosis yrs^#	64.6±8.5*	66.1±8.8*	68.6±9.2*	72.2±9.8
Smoking status %
Non or exsmoker	35.0*	32.5*	33.7*	26.9
Unknown	6.9*	7.0*	12.5*	20.7
Current smoker	58.0	60.6*	53.9	52.4
Daily cigarette consumption packs^#	0.69±0.39	0.73±0.50	0.67±0.41	0.71±0.46
Severe COPD^¶ %	6.6*	5.1	8.4*	3.8
Baseline⁺ treatment
Inhaled corticosteroids %	89.3*	66.4*	39.7*	4.4
Inhaled β₂-agonists %	89.3*	71.0*	65.0*	33.1
SABA	73.8*	67.3*	51.5*	31.3
LABA	65.6*	9.0*	23.9*	0.4
Other adrenergic stimulants %	2.8	1.2	4.4*	2.4
Oral β₂-agonists %	7.6	7.2	6.1	8.6
Xanthines %	16.7*	14.2	13.1	10.8
Anticholinergics %	26.2*	23.0*	24.6*	5.8
Oral corticosteroids %	58.7*	57.8*	37.4*	16.8
Combined bronchodilator products %	7.3*	5.3*	5.4*	1.8
Oxygen therapy %	2.8	2.8	4.0	3.1
Nebulised therapy %	4.1*	2.3*	5.1*	0.9
Baseline⁺ use of health services
COPD-related GP visits %	64.0	67.7	65.3	68.7
COPD-related hospitalisation^§ %	7.9	6.7	5.4	6.2
COPD-related A&E visits %	1.6*	0.0	0.0	0.1
History of comorbid conditions^ƒ
Comorbid conditions present %	23.0*	31.1*	31.3*	43.3

SABA: short-acting β₂-agonists
LABA: long-acting β₂-agonists
GP: general practitioner
A&E: accident and emergency
^#: mean±sd
^¶: as defined in 14
⁺: 6 months before start of regular treatment
^§: in- and outpatient
^ƒ: as defined in 16
*: p<0.05 versus reference group