Patients' characteristics
| Total groupf | Baseline | After 2 months SC | After 6 months SC | After 12 months SC | |
| Quitters n | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | |
| Age yrs | 55 (46–67) | 55.6 (46–63) | |||
| Sex M/F | 20/13 | 9/6 | 9/6 | 9/6 | 9/6 |
| Pack yrs | 35 (15–66) | 34 (15–66) | |||
| Cigarettes·day−1 | 21.9 (10–40) | 20.6 (10–40) | |||
| FEV1 % pred | 71 (28–114) | 75 (36–114) | 77 (42–115) | ||
| FEV1/VC % | 55.4 (25–76) | 57.3 (25–76) | 58.6 (33–84) | ||
| sGaw 1·kPa−1·s−1 | 0.68 (0.2–1.8) | 0.74 (0.2–1.8) | 0.66 (0.28–3.43) | ||
| PC20 AMP mg·mL−1 | 34.3 (0.02–640) | 44 (4.44–640) | 176 (1.04–640)+ | ||
| PC20 Mch mg·mL−1 | 2.5 (0.018–78.2) | 2.57 (0.15–78.2) | 8.1 (0.09–78.2)+ | ||
| Sputum | |||||
| Cell concentration 103·mL-1 | 1507 (480–9620) | 1160 (480–9620) | 2990 (32–13873) | 3022 (206–11577)¶ | 3314 (16–12290)+ |
| Eosinophils | |||||
| 103·mL−1 | 17 (0–130) | 18 (0–106) | 7 (0–111)# | 5 (0–150) | 11 (0–140) |
| % | 1.5 (0–4.1) | 1.5 (0–4.0) | 0.7 (0–2.6)# | 0.5 (0–2.6)¶ | 0.2 (2–3.6)+ |
| Neutrophils | |||||
| 103·mL−1 | 870 (240–7610) | 756 (235–7608) | 2763 (23–9079) | 1232 (120–8856)¶ | 2879 (120–11040)+ |
| % | 67.3 (39.1–87.3) | 73.8 (45–86) | 77.8 (38–97) | 68.3 (35.5–93) | 78.7 (31.6–89.8)§ |
| Macrophages | |||||
| 103·mL−1 | 426 (90–2610) | 407 (90–2615) | 462 (8–8268) | 807 (9–2373) | 778 (216–2940) |
| % | 28.4 (9.9–58.4) | 24.2 (11.8–52.7) | 20.1 (2.2–59.6) | 28 (4.3–61.6) | 19.2 (7.9–60.7)+ |
| Lymphocytes | |||||
| 103·mL−1 | 15 (0–220) | 10 (0–77) | 10 (0–111) | 36 (5–150)¶ | 26 (5–160) |
| % | 0.8 (0.1–4.6) | 0.8 (0.1–1.1) | 0.8 (0.1–1.3 | 1.3 (0.5–2.6)¶ | 0.8 (0.1–3.0) |
| Epithelial cells | |||||
| 103·mL−1 | 8 (0–110) | 7 (0–60) | 0.2 (0–83) | 34 (0–751)¶ | 22 (0–98)+ |
| % | 0.5 (0–11) | 0.3 (0–2.1) | 0.1 (0–0.8)# | 0.8 (0–13.3) | 0.55 (0–6) |
Data are presented as n and median (range), except for age, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and FEV1/vital capacity (VC) in mean (range), and for provocative concentration causing a 20% fall in FEV1 (PC20) of adenosine-5'-monophosphate (AMP) and PC20 of methacholine (Mch) in geometric mean (range)
M: male
F: female
sGaw: airway conductance
SC: smoking cessation
#: p<0.05 before SC versus 2 months after SC
¶:p<0.05 before SC versus 6 months after SC
+: p<0.05 before SC versus 12 months after SC
§: p=0.056 before SC versus after 12 months SC
f: n=33