Evaluation of Dupilumab in Patients With Persistent Asthma (Liberty Asthma Quest)

A severe exacerbation was defined as a deterioration of asthma requiring: use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; or hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of exacerbations that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

A severe exacerbation was defined as a deterioration of asthma requiring: use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; or hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of exacerbations that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

A severe exacerbation was defined as a deterioration of asthma requiring: use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; or hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of exacerbations that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

A severe exacerbation was defined as a deterioration of asthma requiring: use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; or hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of exacerbations that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

A severe exacerbation was defined as a deterioration of asthma requiring: use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; or hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of exacerbations that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

The AQLQ is a disease-specific, self-administered quality of life questionnaire designed to measure functional impairments that are most important to participants with asthma. The AQLQ comprises of 32 items in 4 domains: symptoms (12 items), activity limitation (11 items), emotional function (5 items), environmental stimuli (4 items). Each item is scored on a 7-point likert scale (1=maximal impairment, 7=no impairment). The 32 items of the questionnaire are averaged to produce one overall quality of life score ranging from 1 (severely impaired) to 7 (not impaired at all). Higher scores indicate better quality of life.

The AQLQ is a disease-specific, self-administered quality of life questionnaire designed to measure functional impairments that are most important to participants with asthma. The AQLQ comprises of 32 items in 4 domains: symptoms (12 items), activity limitation (11 items), emotional function (5 items), environmental stimuli (4 items). Each item is scored on a 7-point likert scale (1=maximal impairment, 7=no impairment). The 32 items of the questionnaire are averaged to produce one overall quality of life score ranging from 1 (severely impaired) to 7 (not impaired at all). Higher scores indicate better quality of life.

The ACQ-5 has 5 questions, reflecting the top-scoring five asthma symptoms: woken at night by symptoms, wake in the mornings with symptoms, limitation of daily activities, shortness of breath and wheeze. Participants were asked to recall how their asthma had been during the previous week and to respond to each of the five symptom questions on a 7-point scale ranged from 0 (no impairment) to 6 (maximum impairment). ACQ-5 total score was mean of the scores of all 5 questions and, therefore, ranged from 0 (totally controlled) to 6 (severely uncontrolled). Higher score indicated lower asthma control.

A severe exacerbation was defined as a deterioration of asthma requiring: use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; or hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of exacerbations (resulted hospitalization or emergency room visit) that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

The PEF is a participant's maximum speed of expiration, as measured with a peak flow meter. Peak flow testing for PEF was performed at home (morning and evening) while sitting or standing prior to using any medication (if needed) for asthma.

FVC is a standard pulmonary function test used to quantify respiratory muscle weakness. FVC is the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out after full inspiration in the upright position, measured in liters.

FEF is the amount of air which can be forcibly exhaled from the lungs in the first second of a forced exhalation. FEF25-75% is defined as the mean forced expiratory flow between the 25% and 75% of the FVC.

FEV1 was the volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration as measured by spirometer.

LOAC was defined as any of the following: >=6 additional reliever puffs of salbutamol/albuterol or levosalbutamol/levalbuterol in a 24-hour period (compared to baseline) on 2 consecutive days; increase in ICS >=4 times the dose at randomization; use of systemic corticosteroids for >=3 days; hospitalization or emergency room visit because of asthma, requiring systemic corticosteroids. Annualized event rate was the total number of LOAC that occurred during the treatment period divided by the total number of participant-years treated.

The time to first severe exacerbation was defined as follows: date of the first event - randomization date +1. For participants who had no event on or before Visit 18 (Week 52) or last contact date, the time was censored at the date of Visit 18 or the last contact date, whichever was earlier. The median time to first severe exacerbation was not estimated; therefore, the probability of severe exacerbation at Weeks 12, 24, 36, and 52, are presented as the descriptive statistics.

The time to first LOAC event was defined as follows: date of the first event - first dose date +1. For participants who had no event on or before last dose date + 14 days or last contact date, the time was censored at the last dose date + 14 days or the last contact date, whichever was earlier.

The ACQ-5 has 5 questions, reflecting the top-scoring five asthma symptoms: woken at night by symptoms, wake in the mornings with symptoms, limitation of daily activities, shortness of breath and wheeze. Participants were asked to recall how their asthma had been during the previous week and to respond to each of the five symptom questions on a 7-point scale ranged from 0 (no impairment) to 6 (maximum impairment). ACQ-5 total score was mean of the scores of all 5 questions and, therefore, ranged from 0 (totally controlled) to 6 (severely uncontrolled). Higher score indicated lower asthma control.

The ACQ-7 has 7 questions, the first 5 questions assess the most common asthma symptoms: woken at night by symptoms, wake in the mornings with symptoms, limitation of daily activities, shortness of breath and wheeze plus short-acting bronchodilator use, and FEV1 (pre-bronchodilator % predicted). Participants were asked to recall how their asthma had been during the previous week and to respond to each of the five symptom questions on a 7-point scale ranged from 0 (no impairment) to 6 (maximum impairment). Clinic staff scored the FEV1% predicted on a 7-point scale. The questions were equally weighted and the ACQ-7 total score was mean of the scores of all 7 questions and, therefore, ranged from 0 (totally controlled) to 6 (severely uncontrolled). Higher score indicated lower asthma control.

Morning asthma symptom score was determined using AM (ante meridiem) symptom scoring system which evaluated participant's overall asthma symptoms experienced during the night. It ranged from 0 to 4 as: 0= No asthma symptoms, slept through the night, 1= Slept well, but some complaints in the morning, no night time awakenings, 2= Woke up once because of asthma (including early awakening), 3= Woke up several times because of asthma (including early awakening), 4= Bad night, awake most of the night because of asthma.

Evening asthma symptom score was determined using PM (post meridiem) symptom scoring system which evaluated participant's overall asthma symptoms experienced during the day. It ranged from 0 to 4 as: 0=very well, no asthma symptoms, 1=one episode of wheezing, cough, or breathlessness, 2=more than one episode of wheezing, cough, or breathlessness without interference of normal activities, 3=wheezing, cough, or breathlessness most of the day, which interfered to some extent with normal activities, 4=asthma very bad, unable to carry out daily activities as usual.

Participants recorded every morning on awakening the number of asthma-related nocturnal awakenings requiring use of rescue medication that occurred during the previous night.

Participants might administered salbutamol/albuterol or levosalbutamol/levalbuterol as reliever medication as needed during the study. The number of salbutamol/albuterol or levosalbutamol/levalbuterol inhalations were recorded daily by the participants in an electronic diary/peak expiratory flow (PEF) meter. In the case that Nebulizer solutions were used as an alternative delivery method, the nebulizer dose was converted to number of puffs as per following conversion factor: salbutamol/albuterol nebulizer solution (2.5 mg) corresponds to 4 puffs.

The AQLQ is a disease-specific, self-administered quality of life questionnaire designed to measure functional impairments that are most important to participants with asthma. The AQLQ comprises of 32 items in 4 domains: symptoms (12 items), activity limitation (11 items), emotional function (5 items), environmental stimuli (4 items). Each item is scored on a 7-point likert scale (1=maximal impairment, 7=no impairment). The 32 items of the questionnaire are averaged to produce one overall quality of life score ranging from 1 (severely impaired) to 7 (not impaired at all). Higher scores indicate better quality of life.

EQ-5D-5L is a standardized health-related quality of life questionnaire developed by EuroQol Group in order to provide a simple, generic measure of health for clinical and economic appraisal. EQ-5D consists of EQ-5D descriptive system and EQ visual analogue scale (VAS). EQ-5D descriptive system comprises of 5 dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each dimension has 5 levels: no problems, slight problems, moderate problems, severe problems, and extreme problems. The 5D-5L systems are converted into a single index utility score between 0 to 1, where higher score indicates a better health state. EQ-5D-5L-VAS records participant's self-rated health on a vertical VAS that allows them to indicate their health state that can range from 0 (worst imaginable) to 100 (best imaginable).

The HADS is a general scale to detect states of anxiety and depression already used and validated in asthma, which includes HADS-A and HADS-D subscales. The instrument is comprised of 14 items: 7 related to anxiety (HADS-A) and 7 to depression (HADS-D). Each item on the questionnaire is scored from 0-3. The anxiety/depression score is the sum of the scores of the 7 related items; one can score between 0 and 21 for either anxiety or depression. And the total score is the sum of the scores of the 14 items ranging from 0 (no symptoms) to 42 (severe symptoms), with higher scores indicating higher anxiety/depression complains.

The SNOT-22 is a validated measure of health related quality of life in sinonasal disease. It is a 22 item questionnaire with each item assigned a score ranging from 0-5. The total score may range from 0 (no disease) -110 (worst disease), lower scores represent better health related quality of life.

RQLQ(S)+12 is a self-administered questionnaire with standardized activities developed to measure health-related quality of life signs and symptoms that are most problematic in those 12 to 75 years of age, as a result of perennial or seasonal allergic rhinitis. There are 28 items on RQLQ(S) in 7 domains: activities (3 items), sleep (3 items), non-nose/eye symptoms (7 items), practical problems (3 items), nasal symptoms (4 items), eye symptoms (4 items) and emotional (4 items). RQLQ(S)+12 responses are based on 7-point likert scale with responses ranging from 0 (not troubled) to 6 (extremely troubled). Individual items within RQLQ(S)+12 are equally weighted. The overall score is calculated as the mean score of all items. Higher scores indicated more health-related quality of life impairment (lower scores better).