Effect of mattress and pillow encasings on children with asthma and house dust mite allergy

Flowchart. BPT, Bronchial provocation test; asthma diary, diary with registration of peak flow, symptoms, and asthma medication during a 2-week period.

Flow diagram of the progress through the study. (a) Three subjects moved to another region, 2 before they received the encasings; (b) insufficient data concerning asthma medication and lack of dust samples; (c) concomitant treatment with unallowed medication (growth hormone).

Change in need for inhaled steroids. Daily dose of inhaled steroid (in micrograms) by the end of the study (y-axis) as a function of initial dose (x-axis) in children in the active treatment (filled circles) and placebo (open circles) groups is shown. Results are expressed as individual data points.

Change in need for inhaled steroids. Change from baseline in daily dose of inhaled steroid (in micrograms) by the end of the study in the active treatment (filled circles) and placebo (open circles) groups is shown. Results are expressed as individual data points, and P values for differences between medians are calculated by means of the Kruskal-Wallis test.