3.2 Demographic and clinical characteristics
Characteristics of patients with incident CRSwNP at the time of study inclusion (1 January 2012-31 December 2018) are presented in Table 1. CRSwNP patients were more frequently male (59.9%) and their median age at the time of diagnosis was 53 years (interquartile range 39 - 65). Out of all incident patients (n=18 563), 27.0 % had been diagnosed with asthma, with 5.8% of the incident patients having severe asthma. The number of patients with severe uncontrolled asthma was 283 patients (1.5% of the incident patients). A total of 62.7% of the patients had used any systemic corticosteroids (SCS) during the study period (2012-2019). The use of SCS was more common in patients with comorbid asthma, especially in those with more severe asthma (p < 0.001). At baseline, the most common comorbidities were upper airway diseases, dental problems, cardiovascular diseases, back pain, and obesity (Supplemental Material Table S1). Nasal polyps, both acute and chronic sinusitis and acute respiratory infections were reported during the follow-up period, Supplemental Material Table S2. Also, oral health problems, including periodontitis and dental caries persisted in patients during the follow-up, Supplemental Material Table S2.