Number of patients improving or worsening from baseline to the first outcome year, matched
| Improved | Unchanged | Worsened | NNB | ||||
| LAMA/LABA | Triple therapy | LAMA/LABA | Triple therapy | LAMA/LABA | Triple therapy | ||
| Exacerbations | 225 (73.5%) | 651 (78.2%) | 41 (13.4%) | 96 (11.5%) | 40 (13.1%) | 85 (10.2%) | 21 |
| Acute respiratory events | 173 (56.5%) | 550 (66.1%) | 51 (16.7%) | 123 (14.8%) | 82 (26.8%) | 159 (19.1%) | 10 |
| Acute OCS courses | 158 (51.6%) | 494 (59.4%) | 98 (32.0%) | 213 (25.6%) | 50 (16.3%) | 125 (15.0%) | 15 |
| Antibiotics courses | 193 (63.1%) | 523 (62.9%) | 72 (23.5%) | 218 (26.2%) | 41 (13.4%) | 91 (10.9%) | 134 |
| mMRC score | 32 (16.7%) | 32 (6.1%) | 101 (52.6%) | 264 (50.2%) | 59 (30.7%) | 163 (31.0%) | |
LAMA: long-acting muscarinic antagonist; LABA: long-acting inhaled β-agonist; NNB: number needed for one patient to benefit from triple therapy [21]; OCS: oral corticosteroid; mMRC: modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale.