Diagnostic and prognostic utility of mid-expiratory flow rate in older community-dwelling persons with respiratory symptoms, but without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Table 4 Number of pulmonary events and all-cause deaths during a mean follow up of 4.5 years in patients with and without MEF₅₀ < 60 % of predicted

	All (N = 161)	MEF₅₀ < 60 % N = 63	MEF₅₀ ≥ 60 % N = 98	P value
Episodes of acute bronchitis, N (%)	34 (21.1 %)	20 (31.7 %)	14 (14.3 %)	0.01
Pneumonia, N (%)	27 (16.8 %)	15 (23.8 %)	12 (12.2 %)	0.08
Hospitalization for pulmonary reason, N (%)	21 (13.0 %)	12 (19.2 %)	9 (9.2 %)	0.09
All-cause death, N (%)	17 (10.6 %)	10 (15.9 %)	7 (7.1 %)	0.11

Absolute numbers of clinically relevant outcome measures during follow-up. P value refers to Fishers exact test

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