Table 1 Basal characteristics one year prior to or at index date of (A) all patients with mild to moderate and severe asthma and (B) after exclusion of patients with a COPD diagnosis (J44). Study population and sex are given as number and proportions (%) of patients and other data are given as mean values (standard deviation, SD). P-values indicate differences between mild to moderate and severe asthma in each group, respectively

Study population, n (%)

17,934 (95.8)

790 (4.2)

<0.001

16,142 (96.6)

561 (3,4)

<0.001

Female, n (%)

11,293 (63.0)

472 (59.7)

0.071

10,157 (62.9)

337 (60.1)

0.169

Age at index

48.8 (19.2)

56.9 (16.9)

<0.001

46.6 (18.6)

52.3 (16.8)

<0.001

Age at death (years)

78.0 (13.2)

81.0 (8.6)

0.042

77.2 (15.1)

81.0 (10.2)

0.165

BMI (kg/m²)^a

27.6 (6.0)

27.9 (5.8)

0.274

27.6 (6.0)

28.0 (5.6)

0.248

FEV₁% predicted value post bronchodilation^b

83.6 (21.1)

67.5 (25.9)

<0.001

89.7 (15.9)

80.0 (22.1)

0.003

FVC % predicted value post bronchodilation^b

94.7 (18.6)

84.3 (21.1)

<0.001

97.7 (16.5)

91.1 (19.8)

0.043

FEV₁/FVC^b

0.737 (0.138)

0.640 (0.175)

<0.001

0.777 (0.097)

0.715 (0.140)

0.005

Eosinophils^c, ×103 cells/μL

0.32 (0.43)

0.40 (0.63)

0.065

0.31 (0.44)

0.37 (0.43)

0.132