No evidence for altered intracellular calcium-handling in airway smooth muscle cells from human subjects with asthma

Table 1 Clinical and functional characteristics of subjects

Characteristic	Normal	Mild-moderate asthma GINA 1-3	Severe asthma GINA 4-5
Number	18	9	11
Age	48 (4.2)	43 (5.6)	48 (3.9)
Male/Female	10/8	3/6	9/2
Smoking status
Never/Ex/Current	12/2/4	7/1/1	5/2/4
Pack years⁺	29.0 (12.2)	5 (0.0)	19.5 (8.4)
FEV ₁ % predicted	97.0 (2.9)	89.1 (7.5)	95.2 (4.3)
FEV ₁ /FVC%	79.8 (1.7)	71.9 (3.3)*	69.6 (2.1)*
Treatments
LABA (% of patients)	0	11	100
ICS (% of patients)	0	67	100
Dose (bdp)	-	533.3 (84.3)	1636 (152.1)
OCS (% of patients)	0	0	36
Dose (mg/day)	-	-	8.8 (0.7)

Data are mean (SEM), *p < 0.05 compared to normal group. ⁺Pack years refer to those subjects with a smoking history. FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in one second; FVC, forced vital capacity; LABA, long-acting β₂ adrenoceptor agonist; ICS, inhaled corticosteroid; OCS, oral corticosteroid.

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