Patients’ characteristics.

<p>Values are given as means ± SD or medians (range).</p>*<p>included four patients with mild and two with moderate persistent asthma.</p>†<p>with the χ² test or analysis of variance.</p>‡<p>Patients were considered atopic when they were positive for one or more serum allergen-specific IgE antibodies against house dust, Japanese cedar pollen, mixed gramineae pollen, mixed weed pollen, mixed mold, cat dander, dog dander, and <i>Trichophyton rubrum</i>.</p>§<p>Equivalent to fluticasone propionate.</p>¶<p>by Kruskal Wallis test,</p>#<p>by unpaired t-test or analysis of variance after data were log-transformed.</p><p>Abbreviations: ICS, inhaled corticosteroid; FEV₁; forced expiratory volume in one second.