TABLE 2

Symptoms and burden due to asthma in patients according to their 12-year adherence

	12-year adherence
	Good adherence^#	Poor adherence^¶	p-value
Symptoms of asthma
AQ20 score	4 (2–7)	4 (1–8)	0.583
ACT score	21 (19–24)	21 (19–24)	0.790
CAT	12 (7–18)	11 (6–17)	0.473
Burden of asthma
Self-reported use of oral corticosteroid courses for asthma	34 (42.5%)	26 (26.3%)	0.026^ƒ
Dispensed oral corticosteroid for asthma⁺ mg·year⁻¹	101 (11–249)	51 (0–165)	0.019^##
At least one hospitalisation due to asthma	14 (17.1%)	13 (13.1%)	0.532^ƒ
Three or more sick leaves during the past 2 years	3 (4.8%)	4 (5.2%)	>0.999^ƒ
Emergency department visits	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.708^##
Fulfils severe asthma criteria according to ERS/ATS	6 (7.3%)	6 (6.1%)	0.772^ƒ
Hospital days, asthma-related^§	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.051^##
Range	0–64	0–12
Hospital days, any respiratory reason^§	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.072^##
Range	0–64	0–37
Asthma control visits	7 (4–11)	6 (3–9)	0.023^##
Asthma-related visits to healthcare	19 (12–28)	11 (8–19)	<0.001^##

Data are presented as median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. Symptoms of asthma were observed at the 12-year follow-up visit. Sick leaves were observed in the 2 years before the follow-up visit. Self-reported use of oral corticosteroids, hospitalisations and hospital days were examined during the whole 12-year follow-up period. AQ20: Airway Questionnaire 20; ACT: Asthma Control Test; CAT: COPD Assessment Test; ERS: European Respiratory Society; ATS: American Thoracic Society. ^#: ≥80% adherence, n=82. ^¶: <80% adherence, n=99. ⁺: data obtained from the Finnish Social Insurance Institution and were divided by the years of follow-up (supplementary material); statistical significance considering symptoms of asthma were evaluated by independent-samples Mann–Whitney U-test. ^§: unplanned. ^ƒ: Pearson Chi-squared test. ^##: independent-samples Mann–Whitney U-test.