Comparison of ﬁxed-dose combinations for asthma 1875 between treatment groups (p = 0.0008). More patients in the budesonide ⁄ formoterol group had a company health insurance fund, while more patients in the salmeterol ⁄ ﬂuticasone group had private insurance. Treatment success A higher proportion of patients in the budeso- nide ⁄ formoterol cohort met the criteria for primary and secondary treatment success compared with the salmeterol ⁄ ﬂuticasone cohort (unadjusted analysis; Figure 2). As expected, the proportion of successfully treated patients for both budesonide ⁄ formoterol and salmeterol ⁄ ﬂuticasone was lower when applying the secondary deﬁnition, which included OCS use and referrals (Figure 2). For both deﬁnitions of treatment success, a larger proportion of patients in the salme- terol ⁄ ﬂuticasone group, compared with the budeso- nide ⁄ formoterol group, failed to meet each of the subcriteria for full success (37.5% vs. 31.7%, Table 4). The most common reasons for treatment failure in both groups were addition of another asthma medi- cation, SABA use at > 0.5 doses ⁄ day (DPI equiva- lent) and two or more asthma-related referrals (Table 4). In the logistic regression model adjusted for dis- ease severity and pre-index SABA use, the odds for achieving the primary deﬁnition of ‘full success’ vs. ‘partial or no success’ increased by 44% with budeso- nide ⁄ formoterol [odds ratio (OR): 1.44; p = 0.0003, Figure 3]. Patients treated with budesonide ⁄ formo- terol also had a greater probability of treatment A B Figure 2 Proportions of salmeterol ⁄ ﬂuticasone- (white bars) or budesonide ⁄ formoterol- (black bars) treated patients meeting the criteria for primary (A) or secondary (B) treatment success. p-values calculated via chi-squared test of independence between treatment success and treatment group, for primary success, p = 0.0060 and for secondary success, p = 0.0928 ª 2008 Ingenix Pharmaceutical Services (UK) Ltd. Journal compilation ª 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Int J Clin Pract, December 2008, 62, 12, 1870–1879