TABLE 4

Oral corticosteroid (OCS)-associated sick leave in asthma patients on high-dosage inhaled corticosteroids in combination with a long-acting β-agonist (LABA) and OCS therapy in the sample (2015)

TotalPatients with at least one sick leaveTotal days of sick leave in the subgroupSick leave days per patientMean number of days per sick leave#
No OCS16 869537 (3.2%)18 2451.134.0±10.9
All OCS patients8524270 (3.2%)96411.135.7±11.5
  Infrequent short-term3061122 (4.0%)44581.536.5±13.4
  Frequent short-term93434 (3.6%)9981.129.4±11.9
  Long-term >20 to ≤90 days187154 (2.9%)14760.827.3±7.8
  Long-term >90 to ≤180 days118432 (2.7%)15051.347.0±13.9
  Long-term >180 days147428 (1.9%)12040.843.0±8.3
All HD-ICS/LABA patients25 393870 (3.4%)27 8861.134.6±11.1

HD: high-dosage; ICS: inhaled corticosteroids. #: in patients with at least one sick leave in 2015; sick leave was included if the patient was coded with an OCS adverse event-related International Classification of Diseases (10th Revision, German Modification) code as the diagnosis.