Quantitative imaging analysis detects subtle airway abnormalities in symptomatic military deployers

BMC Pulmonary Medicine

Table 2 Qualitative consensus reads and quantitative imaging analysis measurements in controls and symptomatic deployers overall and by diagnostic sub-group

	Controls n = 45	Deployers^# n = 82	p-value*	Definite n = 45	Possible n = 37	p-value**
Radiologist consensus reads^
Emphysema	2 (5%)	2 (3%)	0.61	2 (4%)	0	0.55
Bronchial wall thickening	7 (16%)	23 (28%)	0.13	13 (29%)	10 (27%)	0.28
Air trapping	12 (27%)	27 (33%)	0.55	21 (47%)	6 (16%)	0.01
General
TLV_I (L)	6.1 (± 1.4)	6.2 (± 1.2)	0.85	6.1 (± 1.6)	6.2 (± 1.2)	0.86
TLV_E (L)	3.2 (± 0.7)	2.3 (± 0.5)	< 0.0001	2.2 (± 0.5)	2.4 (± 0.6)	< 0.0001^ab
Emphysema
LAA%-950 (%)	8.0 (± 6.3)	10.2 (± 5.9)	0.06	9.2 (± 5.6)	11.4 (± 6.2)	0.04
Airways disease/bronchial wall thickening
Pi10 (mm)	1.9 (± 0.4)	2.3 (± 0.5)	< 0.0001	2.3 (± 0.6)	2.2 (± 0.4)	0.0002^ab
Air trapping parameters
E/I TLV Ratio	0.54 (± 0.12)	0.38 (± 0.07)	< 0.0001	0.37 (± 0.07)	0.38 (± 0.06)	< 0.0001^ab
E/I MLD Ratio	0.84 (± 0.05)	0.74 (± 0.06)	< 0.0001	0.73 (± 0.06)	0.75 (± 0.07)	< 0.0001^ab
LAA%-856 (%)	13.1 (± 10.5)	2.7 (± 4.1)	< 0.0001	1.9 (± 2.7)	3.9 (± 5.4)	< 0.0001^ab

Bold values are statistically significant
Results are the count (percentage) or mean (± standard deviation)
^{^}Radiologist consensus reads were not available for two controls and two deployers that were included in the analysis after original review by the radiology team
^#Expiratory quantitative imaging values were not able to be calculated for 20 deployers
*Deployers and controls were compared using t-tests (Satterthwaite result) for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact tests for categorical variables. Statistically significant p-values are bolded if < 0.005, adjusting for multiple comparisons (10 tests) with a Bonferroni correction
**Diagnostic groups were compared using ANOVA for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact tests for categorical variables. Statistically significant p-values are bolded if < 0.005, adjusting for multiple comparisons (10 tests) with a Bonferroni correction. Individual comparisons between groups were performed if the overall test was significant after Bonferroni correction with the following designations for significant differences (p < 0.05): ^adefinite vs controls, ^bpossible vs controls, ^cdefinite vs possible

ISSN: 1471-2466