Fig. 1

Study flow chart. Out of 49,408 patients with asthma (ICD10 code J45 or J46) who, during 2011 and 2012, collected respiratory drugs (ATC R03) from the pharmacy 18,724 fulfilled the inclusion criteria, i e were above the age of 18 years, had an asthma diagnosis prior to drug collection and did not have polymyalgia rheumatic or rheumatoid arthritis. Of these 18,724 patients, 790 were classified as having severe asthma and 17,934 as having mild to moderate asthma