Table 2 The demographic and clinical characteristics according to the inflammatory phenotype

N

10

88

12

120

< 0.001

Sex (M/F)

5/5

37/51

5/7

62/58

0.55

Age (years)

60 ± 7^#

46 ± 14^‖

57 ± 10

52 ± 13

0.001

BMI

24.3 ± 3.7

23.9 ± 3.5

24.3 ± 3.6

23.9 ± 3.2

NS

Smoking history

< 0.001

 Never smoker, N (%)

2 (20%)^†§‡

55 (62.5%)*

7 (58.3%)*

68 (56.7%)*

 Current smoker, N (%)

3 (30%)^†§‡

22 (25%)*

3 (25%)*

29 (24.1%)*

 Ex-smoker, N (%)

5 (50%)^†§‡

11 (12.5%)*

2 (16.7%)*

23 (19.2%)*

Pack-years

9.8 (0, 50)

0 (0, 15.5)

13.5 (0, 24.3)

0 (0, 19.1)

NS

Diagnosis age (years)

54 ± 13^†

42 ± 13*^¶**

51 ± 10^¶

44 ± 15^¶

0.010

Atopy, N (%)

0 (0%)^†§‡

22 (45%)*

2 (40%)*

21 (36%)*

NS

Triggering factors (Y/N)

9/1

81/7

9/3

99/21

NS

Complications and comorbidities (Y/N)

8/2

42/42

5/5

62/50

NS

Severe asthma, N (%)

6 (60%)**^¶#

16 (18.2%)^‖**

1 (8.3%)^‖#¶

20 (16.7%)^‖**

0.016

Uncontrolled asthma, N (%)

8 (88.9%)

69 (81%)

6 (66.7%)

70 (64.8%)

0.049

ICS daily dose

400 (400, 800)**^¶#

200 (0, 400)^‖

100 (0, 400)^‖

0 (0, 400)^‖

0.015

FEV1/FVC (%)

57.3 ± 14.1

61.5 ± 12.7

60.1 ± 16.9

62.0 ± 14.4

NS

FEV1% predicted

64.2 ± 24.7

63.4 ± 21.9

60.5 ± 30.7

71.8 ± 23.3

NS

FeNO (ppd)

30.0 (17.0, 85.0)^#

52.5 (32.6, 99.7)^‡‖

45.4 (26, 94.2)

31.8 (20.4, 62.1)^†

0.005

Blood eosinophils (10⁹/L)

0.22 (0.1, 0.3)^#

0.4 (0.2, 0.6)^‖‡

0.20 (0.1, 0.4)

0.17 (0.1, 0.3)^†

< 0.001

Blood eosinophils (%)

3.8 (1.3, 5.3)^#

5.2 (2.8, 9.2)^‖‡

2.6 (1.0, 5.7)

2.2 (1, 4.2)^†

< 0.001

Blood neutrophils (10⁹/L)

4.7 (3.0, 9.6)

4 (3.3, 5.1)

4.5 (3.5, 6.0)

4.4 (3.3, 5.8)

NS

Blood neutrophils (%)

70 ± 11.0^‡†

56.1 ± 10.1*^‡**

63.6 ± 9.7^#

60.9 ± 11.7^‖†

< 0.001

Blood lymphocytes (10⁹/L)

1.6 (1.3, 2.1)^#

2.4 (1.9, 2.8)^‖

2 (1.9, 2.5)

2 (1.7, 2.6)

0.024

Blood lymphocytes (%)

24.3 ± 7.5^‡†

31.3 ± 9.7*

26.6 ± 9.6

28.6 ± 10.3^‖

0.04

Blood basophils (10⁹/L)

0 (0, 0.04)

0.04 (0, 0.1)**^‡

0 (0, 0.01)^#

0 (0, 0.05)^†

0.009

Blood basophils (%)

0 (0, 0.7)

0.5 (0, 1.2) **^‡

0 (0, 0.1)^#

0 (0, 0.7)^†

0.008

ACQ6

1.4 ± 0.9

1.8 ± 1.0

1.6 ± 1.3

1.5 ± 1.0

NS

ACT

17.8 ± 4.3

16.2 ± 4.3

17.7 ± 4.9

17.9 ± 4.8

NS

Global AQLQ

4.2 ± 2.5

5.0 ± 1.1

5.2 ± 1.4

5.1 ± 1.1

NS

HAD

1.0 (0, 10)

3.5 (0, 11)

2.5 (0, 20.5)

2.5 (0, 9)

NS