Sex differences in excessive oral corticosteroid exposure in poor adherent adult asthmatics overusing short-acting β-2 agonists.

Background: We know that excessive short-acting β2-agonists (SABA) use in asthma may be associated to high exacerbation risks. We studied whether such excessive SABA consumption is connected with different higher oral corticosteroid (OC) prescriptions in the two sexes.

Methods: In our prescribing database, we searched subjects aged 18-40 years that were prescribed at least one SABA package/year and/or at least two ICS or two ICS/LABA boxes/year to identify asthmatics.