Results
Children’s baseline demographics and clinical characteristics are shown in Table 1 (nTotal=143, 41% females, nDPI group=65, nMDI group=77; one participant was excluded from the analysis due to the simultaneous usage of both device types). Children in the DPI group were significantly older than the MDI group (12.8\(\pm\)2.2 and 10.8\(\pm\)3, respectively; p-value<0.001). There was no significant difference in sex between the DPI and MDI groups. Regarding ethnicity, a higher proportion of children were European (Caucasian) in the DPI group compared to the MDI group (86% versus 70%). There was a significant difference between the two groups in the country of inclusion (p-value < 0.001). Children in the MDI group were more often included in Germany (42%) and only one participant was included from Slovenia. However, in the DPI group, patients were often recruited in Spain (42%), and a few patients (9%) in Germany. The two groups had no differences in asthma control status (controlled versus uncontrolled) and (childhood) asthma control test ((c)ACT 30,31) scores. However, patients in the MDI group had more often severe asthma (steps 4 and 5 based on GINA guidelines 1) compared to the DPI group (66% versus 40% had severe asthma). Both FEV1 % predicted before and after salbutamol were higher in the MDI group compared to the DPI group. Children in the MDI group took higher ICS dosages and had higher daily intervals than those in the DPI group. Most of the children (93.5%) in the MDI group used a spacer while using MDI devices. There were no differences in medication adherence between the two groups, and most of the children reported being adherent to medication based on the MARS-5 questionnaire. 32 The inhaler technique score was lower in the MDI group than in the DPI group. However, 45% and 17% of the data for inhaler technique were missed (NA) for MDI and DPI groups, respectively.