Inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting beta2-agonist (ICS/LABA) new-user analysis: identifying asthma-exacerbation/short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA) overuse-associated characteristics

<bold>Introduction:</bold> ICS/LABA reduce asthma symptoms and future exacerbation risk. Yet, little is known of ICS/LABA user-demographic/clinical characteristics as risk factors for poor asthma control/exacerbation. <bold>Aim:</bold> Identify characteristics of adults with moderate asthma newly initiating twice daily (BID) ICS/LABA predicting exacerbation/SABA overuse (≥3 SABA prescriptions/year) in England. <bold>Methods:</bold> Eligible patients: ≥1 BID ICS/LABA prescription between 01 Dec 17–31 Mar 19 (index date [ID]); ≥1 asthma diagnostic code 1.5 years pre-ID; age ≥18 years 1 year pre-ID; registered with a general practitioner 1 year pre/post-ID; an electronic primary care record. Baseline demographics/clinical characteristics were collected (<bold>Table</bold>), follow-up SABA use/exacerbation were collected 1-year post-ID. Random Forest and latent class analyses will further investigate this. <bold>Results:</bold> Patients (N=23,567; mean age 50 years; 60.3% female; mean body mass index 29.6kg/m²; Table) had mean 3.9 (standard deviation 3.7) SABA prescriptions; 34.3% used oral corticosteroids 1 year pre-ID. Pre- vs post-ID 52.0% vs 41.3% of patients had ≥3 SABA prescriptions. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> SABA overuse remained high in adults 1 year after newly initiating BID ICS/LABA. Further analyses of treatment/clinical/demographic-characteristic interactions may reveal predictors of SABA overuse/exacerbation. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA1245/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>