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

Table 8

General linear mixed models to estimate medication pattern variables over the study period to predict asthma exacerbation in Group 3.

Outcome variable	Explanatory variable	Estimate	Standard Error	DF	-value	P value	95% CI
							Lower	Upper
Systemic corticosteroid prescription	Intercept	−3.1987	0.1148	2963	−27.86	<0.0001	−3.4237	−2.9737
		−0.00086	0.000719	2963	−1.2	0.2298	−0.0023	0.00055
		0.003845	0.000404	2963	9.53	<0.0001	0.00305	0.00464
		0.001945	0.000288	2963	6.76	<0.0001	0.00138	0.00251
		−0.000004	0.000001	2963	−3.03	0.0024	−0.000006	−0.000001
Hospitalization	Intercept	−3.5983	0.1196	2965	−30.1	<0.0001	−3.8327	−3.3639
		−0.00112	0.00084	2965	−1.33	0.1825	−0.0028	0.00053
		0.004252	0.000341	2965	12.48	<0.0001	0.00358	0.00492
ED visit	Intercept	−4.8786	0.1756	2962	−27.78	<0.0001	−5.2228	−4.5344
		−0.00666	0.001862	2962	−3.58	0.0004	−0.0103	−0.003
		0.004306	0.000485	2962	8.88	<0.0001	0.00336	0.00526
		0.003262	0.0003	2962	10.89	<0.0001	0.00267	0.00385
		−0.000005	0.000001	2962	−3.8	0.0001	−0.000007	−0.000002
		0.000009	0.000003	2962	3.27	0.0011	0.000004	0.000015
Overall exacerbation	Intercept	−2.6632	0.09936	2963	−26.8	<0.0001	−2.8579	−2.4685
		−0.00364	0.001236	2963	−2.95	0.0033	−0.0061	−0.0012
		0.003166	0.000308	2963	10.28	<0.0001	0.00256	0.00377
		0.001941	0.000214	2963	9.06	<0.0001	0.00152	0.00236
		0.000004	0.000002	2963	1.94	0.0524	−0.00000004	0.000009
Ventolin nebulizer treatment	Intercept	−5.8844	0.383	2965	−15.36	<0.0001	−6.6351	−5.1337
		−0.00104	0.003013	2965	−0.35	0.7287	−0.0069	0.00487
		0.003631	0.001277	2965	2.84	0.0045	0.00113	0.00613

, 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.