Table 3– Multivariate regression analysis on the association between change in (Δ) provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (PC₂₀) after the 6-month treatment, and the change in clinical and inflammatory variables in blood, sputum and bronchial biopsies

	Methacholine Δlog₂ PC₂₀	p-value
Current smoker	-0.66 (-1.83–0.52)	0.268
Age yrs	-0.30 (-1.04–0.04)	0.423
Female sex	0.26 (-1.67–1.72)	0.976
Treatment group
Fluticasone/salmeterol	0.07 (-1.70–1.85)	0.936
Fluticasone	0.36 (-1.09–1.81)	0.622
ΔRV/TLC % pred	-0.03 (-0.06–0.00)	0.050
Δ blood monocytes %	0.35 (0.10–0.59)	0.006
Δ sputum neutrophils ×10⁴ cells·mL⁻¹^#	-0.98 (-2.06–0.11)	0.076
Δ bronchial CD4+ cells per 0.1 mm²^#	-0.93 (-2.14–0.27)	0.128

Data are presented as β (95% CI), unless otherwise stated. Bold indicates statistically significant values. RV: residual volume; TLC: total lung capacity; % pred: % predicted. ^#: log transformed.