Effect of Pregnancy on Quantitative Medication Use and Relation to Exacerbations in Asthma

Table 7

General linear mixed models to estimate asthma medication pattern variables over the study period to predict asthma exacerbation in Group 2.

Outcome variable	Explanatory variable	Estimate	Standard Error	DF	-value	value	95% CI
							Lower	Upper
Systemic corticosteroid prescription	Intercept	−2.801	0.09869	3248	−28.38	<0.0001	−2.9944	−2.6076
		−0.00172	0.000575	3248	−2.98	0.0029	−0.0028	−0.0006
		0.002588	0.000576	3248	4.5	<0.0001	0.00146	0.00372
Hospitalization	Intercept	−3.5395	0.1251	3248	−28.28	<0.0001	−3.7847	−3.2943
		−0.00332	0.00068	3248	−4.88	<0.0001	−0.0047	−0.002
		0.004318	0.000505	3248	8.55	<0.0001	0.00333	0.00531
ED visit	Intercept	−4.193	0.1568	3246	−26.75	<0.0001	−4.5003	−3.8857
		−0.00156	0.000976	3246	−1.6	0.1093	−0.0035	0.00035
		0.004638	0.000645	3246	7.2	<0.0001	0.00337	0.0059
		0.002408	0.001377	3246	1.75	0.0805	−0.0003	0.00511
		−0.000006	0.000003	3246	−1.87	0.061	−0.00001	0.0000003
Overall exacerbation	Intercept	−2.2493	0.08595	3248	−26.17	<0.0001	−2.4178	−2.0808
		−0.00232	0.000482	3248	−4.82	<0.0001	−0.0033	−0.0014
		0.003557	0.000412	3248	8.63	<0.0001	0.00275	0.00436
Ventolin nebulizer treatment	Intercept	−5.5041	0.4281	3248	−12.86	<0.0001	−6.3432	−4.665
		−0.00157	0.002348	3248	−0.67	0.5043	−0.0062	0.00303
		0.003411	0.002116	3248	1.61	0.1071	−0.0007	0.00756

, total use of asthma medications before pregnancy; , total use of asthma medications during pregnancy; , total use of asthma medications after delivery; ED, emergency department; DF, degree of freedom; CI, confidence interval.