PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jing Zheng
AU  - Rui Liang
AU  - Ting Zhou
AU  - Lei Wang
AU  - Gang Wang
TI  - Identification and validation of asthma phenotypes in Chinese population using cluster analysis
AID  - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA5021
DP  - 2015 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - PA5021
VI  - 46
IP  - suppl 59
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA5021.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA5021.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2015 Sep 01; 46
AB  - Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous airway disease, it is crucial to clearly identify clinical phenotypes to manage asthma better.Objective: To identify and validate the adult asthma clusters in Chinese population.Methods: A prospective 12-month cohort study was undertaken. 284 patients were recruited and 19 variables were included. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed by Ward's method followed by k-means cluster analysis.Results: Five clusters were identified with a satisfying performance of silhouette coefficient point (0.2). The cluster 1 (n=62) was characterized by young females, low income and mild asthma with normal lung function, the cluster 2 (n=46) by older female, no health insurance, low education level, unemployed, very low income, allergy, longer asthma duration, and moderate to severe asthma with poor asthma quality of life (AQLQ), the cluster 3 (n=74) by female, high education level and poor lung function, the cluster 4 (n=55) by male, smoking, few health insurance, low income and mild to moderate with normal lung function, and the cluster 5 (n=47) by males, high education level, smoking health insurance, full-time job and mild asthma with normal lung function and better AQLQ. Compared with the cluster 5, the cluster 1 was at higher risk of non-planned visits (RR=2.67, 95%CI=[1.12, 6.32]) and emergency visits (RR=4.06, 95%CI=[1.26, 13.04]), the cluster 2 at higher risk of asthma exacerbations (RR=4.39, 95%CI=[1.63, 11.85]), non-planned visits (RR=9.41, 95%CI=[3.64, 24.30]) and emergency visits (RR=15.47, 95%CI=[4.75, 50.33]).Conclusion: Cluster analysis revealed five distinct asthma phenotypes in Chinese population, which exhibited different asthma outcomes.