A retrospective study was conducted in a single institute and primary care setting. Fujiki Medical and Surgical Clinic routinely required clinical information such as self-reported daytime and nighttime VAS and ACT scores as PROs, prescriptions, body mass index, smoking habits, comorbidities (Supplementary Table 1), blood eosinophil counts, serum total IgE levels, lung functions using spirometry, and fractional exhaled nitrogen oxide (FENO) before treatment for each patient with asthma. The clinic also determined daytime and nighttime VAS 2, 4, and 8 weeks after treatment, ACT scores 4 and 8 weeks after treatment, and lung function test results and FENO measurements 8 weeks after treatment. The clinic staff always asks each patient about adverse events and medication adherence at every visit during treatment. Each patient was taught the correct inhalation technique before treatment and 2, 4, and 8 weeks after treatment. The remaining counters or capsules for ElliptaⓇand TurbuhalerⓇ or BreezhalerⓇ, respectively, and the interview manner for pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDI) were checked to assess adherence to controllers for asthma (Figure 1). We confirmed that all patients had good adherence with >80% administration during the assessment period. However, the measurements of airway reversibility were unavailable using inhaled short-acting bronchodilators in the clinic. All data were retrospectively collected from the medical records in the clinic.

Study design.

Abbreviations: ACT, asthma control test; FENO, fractional exhaled nitrogen oxide; PROs, patient-reported outcomes; SIDT, single-inhaler dual therapy; SITT, single-inhaler triple therapy; VAS, visual analog scale.