Demographics, Treatment Patterns, and Morbidity in Patients with Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction: An...

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is generally treated with short-acting β₂-agonists (SABA) before exercising, to prevent symptoms. Real-world data on treatments and outcomes for patients with EIB alone (EIB_alone), or with asthma (EIB_asthma), in the USA are limited. This study compared demographics, treatment patterns, morbidity, and costs of treating EIB between these two groups of patients.

Administrative claims from US IBM^® MarketScan^® Research databases were analyzed retrospectively. Patients aged ≥4 years filling a SABA claim between 1/1/2011 and 12/31/2016 were evaluated. Patients were indexed on a random SABA claim and required to have 12 months' continuous eligibility pre- and post-index, ≥1 maintenance medication and/or SABA fill post-index, and were designated EIB_alone or EIB_asthma according to diagnostic codes (EIB only or EIB plus asthma, respectively). Descriptive statistics were used.

In total, 13,480 patients had EIB_alone and 14,862 had EIB_asthma. Compared with EIB_asthma, the EIB_alone group was older (mean[SD] 20.4[13.6] vs 17.8[13.6] years), had more females (60.7% vs 54.7%), and filled fewer SABA claims (1.9[1.4] vs 2.5[2.2]) (all p<0.001). A smaller proportion of patients in the EIB_alone than EIB_asthma group had maintenance therapy claims (79.9% vs 90.6%, p<0.001). The EIB_alone group also had a lower proportion of patients with oral or injectable corticosteroid claims (29.4% vs 32.0%) and asthma and/or EIB-related emergency department (1.0% vs 13.0%) or outpatient visits (65.1% vs 72.3%; all p<0.0001). Annual days' supply of oral corticosteroids was similar between groups (mean[SD] EIB_alone: 20.7[30.8] vs EIB_asthma: 19.8[28] days).

Individuals with EIB_alone or EIB_asthma demonstrate considerable morbidity. New treatment paradigms may be needed to optimize outcomes for both patient groups.