Background: Patients with corticosteroid (CS)-dependent asthma have higher mortality than those with CS-independent asthma. However, the common causes of mortality and cause-specific mortality risk in this population have not been well elucidated. Methods: We performed a population-based 1:1 matched cohort of patients with CS-dependent asthma (CSuse> 6 months during baseline period) (n=8,334) and CS-independent asthma (CS-use<6 months during baseline period) (n=8,223) using the Korean National Health Insurance Services (NHIS) data.We determined hazards ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each cause of mortality. We also performed a cause-specific and subdistribution proportional hazards regression model to account for competing risks caused by mortality from other causes. Results: The overall mortality was 5,191/100,000 person-years during a median of 9.5 years (interquartile range, 5.5-9.9 years) of follow-up. All-cause mortality was higher in the CS-dependent cohort than in the CS-independent cohort (6,760/100,000 versus 3,833/100,000 person-years, p<0.001). The common causes of mortality in patients with CS-dependent asthma were respiratory diseases (46.3%), cardiovascular diseases (17.7%), malignant neoplasms (14.2%), injury, poisoning, and external causes (4.8%), and endocrine diseases (3.5%). Compared with patients in the CS-dependent cohort, those in the CS-dependent cohort were more likely to die due to the following causes; respiratory diseases (HR=3.12, 95% CI = 2.85-3.42), cardiovascular diseases (HR=1.28, 95% CI=1.15-1.43), malignant neoplasms (HR=1.14, 95% CI=1.01-1.28), injury, poisoning, and external causes (HR=1.40, 95% CI=1.13-1.74), and endocrine diseases (HR=1.71, 95% CI=1.30-2.23). When considering competing risks caused by mortality due to other diseases, mortality risks were especially significant for chronic respiratory diseases (subdistribution HR=2.96, 95% CI=2.70-3.24) and endocrine diseases (subdistribution HR=1.49, 95% CI=1.14-1.95). Conclusions: The common causes of mortality in CS-dependent asthma were respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, malignancy, injury, poisoning, and external causes, and endocrine diseases. Compared with CS-independent asthma patients, CS-dependent asthma patients had higher disease-specific mortality risk for respiratory diseases and endocrine diseases.