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Table 1 Subject characteristics

From: Anticipating undiagnosed asthma in symptomatic adults with normal pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry: a decision tool for bronchial challenge testing

 

Subjects without asthma, PC20 > 8 mg/mL

(N = 98)

Subjects with asthma, PC20 < 8 mg/mL

(N = 34)

P value

Age (SD)

58.1 (14.1)

55.2 (14.7)

0.313

Female

43 (43.9%)

25 (73.5%)

0.003

BMI (SD)

29.9 (5.8)

30.5 (7.1)

0.666

History of Smoking

–

–

0.415a

 Current smoker (%)

7 (7.2%)

5 (14.7%)

 

 Past smoker (%)

41(42.3%)

14 (41.2%)

 

 Never smoker (%)

49 (50.5%)

15 (44.1%)

 

History of Eczema

15 (15.3%)

6 (17.6%)

0.748

History of Atopy

45 (52.3%)

19 (59.4%)

0.494

Number of allergic reactions to allergy skin testb (min 0, max 24) (SD)

4.8 (5.2)

7.0 (6.2)

0.161

Prior use of salbutamol

8 (8.1%)

10 (29.4%)

0.002

Pre bronchodilator FEV1% predicted (SD)

103.6 (13.2)

96.9 (7.7)

0.007

FEV1% response to bronchodilator (traditional calculation)c (SD)

1.9 (4.9)

5.1 (6.0)

0.004

FEV1% response to bronchodilator (new ERS calculation)d (SD)

2.1 (3.6)

3.9 (3.2)

0.018

Pre bronchodilator FVC % predicted (SD)

104.4 (13.5)

99.6 (7.6)

0.055

FVC % response to bronchodilator (traditional calculation)c (SD)

−1.0 (3.1)

0.4 (3.3)

0.027

FVC % response to bronchodilator (new ERS calculation)d (SD)

−1.1 (3.3)

0.4 (3.4)

0.033

Pre bronchodilator FEV1/FVC

78.1 (4.0)

77.4 (4.6)

0.403

Post bronchodilator FEV1/FVC

80.6 (4.2)

80.3 (4.9)

0.722

Blood Absolute Neutrophil Count (SD)

4201 (1322)

3854 (1235)

0.184

Blood Neutrophil percentage (SD)

60.3 (7.9)

57.0 (9.0)

0.044

Blood Absolute Eosinophil Count (SD)

171 (132)

200 (145)

0.290

Blood Eosinophil percentage (SD)

2.6 (1.9)

3.0 (2.3)

0.255

Sputum neutrophil %e (SD)

52.5 (25.8)

34.7 (23.9)

0.010

Sputum eosinophil %e (SD)

1.6 (2.3)

3.3 (5.1)

0.092

FeNO (SD)

21.3 (18.4)

21.6 (18.7)

0.929

Subjects with FeNO > 25 ppb

21 (23.6%)

9 (27.3%)

0.675

CAT total score (SD)

17.3 (6.9)

17.2 (4.8)

0.944

SGRQ total score (SD)

37.3 (18.2)

36.0 (14.6)

0.703

ACQ5 total score (SD)

0.9 (1.00)

1.0 (0.9)

0.687

LCQ total score (SD)

16.8 (3.2)

16.6 (3.1)

0.696

Answered yes to GAS question: “When you exercise, work hard physically, or when you inhale cold and dry air during the winter, do you ever cough, feel tightness in your chest, have wheezing or whistling or start to be out of breath?”

73 (74.5%)

33 (97.1%)

0.004

  1. aP-value for a chi-square test of a difference in frequency distributions for all categories of the variable
  2. b62 subjects completed allergen skin testing
  3. cFEV1% response to bronchodilator (traditional calculation) = (Post-bronchodilator FEV1 – Pre-bronchodilator FEV1)/ Pre-bronchodilator FEV1
  4. dFEV1% response to bronchodilator (new ERS calculation) = (Post-bronchodilator FEV1 – Pre-bronchodilator FEV1) / (FEV1 predicted value)
  5. e86 subjects were able to produce sputum for testing
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BMC Pulmonary Medicine

ISSN: 1471-2466

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