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Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with at least one ALRTIa in 2014–15, stratified by asthma statusb

From: Use of antibiotics and asthma medication for acute lower respiratory tract infections in people with and without asthma: retrospective cohort study

  

Patients with asthma

Patients without asthma

P-value

Demographic factors

 Number of patients

 

17,952 (16.3)

92,466 (83.74)

 

 Gender, n (%)

Male

6391 (35.6)

38,509 (42.0)

 

Female

11,560 (64.4)

53,995 (58.4)

< 0.001

 Age at ALRTI (years)

Mean (SD)

49.1 (17.3)

50.1 (17.3)

< 0.001

 IMD quintile, n (%)

1 (Least)

1909 (20.5)

10,699 (21.8)

 

2

1862 (20.0)

10,133 (20.6)

 

3

1876 (20.2)

9746 (19.8)

 

4

1805 (19.4)

9164 (18.7)

 

5 (Most)

1849 (19.9)

9403 (19.1)

0.02

 Smoking status, n (%)

Never smoker

6971 (38.8)

36,596 (39.6)

 

Smoker

7973 (44.4)

43,989 (47.6)

 

Previous

3008 (16.8)

11,875 (12.8)

< 0.001

Clinical factors

 Number of infections, n

 

20,990 (16.4)

106,986 (83.6)

 

 Season of infection

Summer

39,315 (36.8)

7648 (36.4)

 

Winter

67,671 (63.3)

13,342 (63.6)

0.39

 Number (%) of ALRTI in prior 12 months

Mean (SD)

0.2 (0.5)

0.2 (0.5)

< 0.001

0

17,737 (84.5)

93,279 (87.2)

 

1

2535 (12.1)

10,820 (10.1)

 

2+

718 (3.4)

2887 (2.7)

< 0.001

 Multimorbidity score at index infectionc, n (%)

Mean (SD)

1.7 (1.7)

1.4 (1.6)

< 0.001

0

7003 (33.4)

43,529 (40.7)

 

1

4803 (22.9)

24,257 (22.7)

 

2

3484 (16.6)

16,575 (15.5)

 

3+

5700 (27.2)

22,625 (21.2)

< 0.001

 Number (%) of asthma medications prescribed in previous 12 monthsd,

Mean (SD)

8.2 (8.5)

0.5 (2.5)

< 0.001

0

–

101,210 (94.6)

 

1–6

11,797 (56.2)

5010 (4.7)

 

7+

9193 (43.8)

766 (0.7)

< 0.001

 Number (%) of antibiotics prescribed in previous 12 monthse

Mean (SD)

2.5 (2.8)

1.7 (2.0)

< 0.001

0

2807 (13.4)

17,734 (16.6)

 

1

6471 (30.8)

48,091 (45)

 

2

4461 (21.3)

20,852 (19.5)

 

3+

7251 (34.6)

20,309 (19)

< 0.001

Practice factors

 Practice ALRTI antibiotic prescribingf, per 1000 patients

Mean (SD)

801.6 (67.1)

798.0 (68.0)

< 0.001

  1. SD Standard deviation, IQR Inter-quartile range, IMD Index multiple deprivation
  2. Table 1 presents information from all ALRTI episodes. Demographic factor statistics are for patients (n = 110,418). Clinical factor statistics are for ALRTI episodes (n = 127,976). P-values report Pearson chi-squared test for independence for categorical variables and t-tests for equality of means for continuous measures.
  3. a Acute lower respiratory tract infection;
  4. b Asthma defined as ever diagnosed and prescribed an asthma medication in the 12 months prior to date of ALRTI
  5. c A list of 36 physical and mental chronic conditions (excluding asthma) were used to ascertain multimorbidity status in participants at ALRTI diagnosis [20, 23]
  6. d Asthma medication includes long- and short-acting β2 agonists, leukotriene receptor antagonists, antimuscarinic bronchodilators, and inhaled and oral corticosteroids
  7. e Any antibiotics (BNF chapter 5.1) prescribed in the last 12 months for any condition
  8. f Antibiotic prescribed within 3 days of a ALRTI diagnosis