Clinical characteristics and induced sputum inflammatory cell counts of healthy controls and participants with eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic asthma
| Controls | Asthma | p-value | ||
| Eosinophilic | Non-eosinophilic | |||
| Subjects n | 11 | 8 | 9 | |
| Age yrs | 56±18 | 53±20 | 65±9 | 0.35 |
| Males/females n | 5/6 | 4/4 | 4/5 | 1.0 |
| Atopy | 6 (55) | 7 (88) | 7 (78) | 0.29 |
| FEV1 % pred | 98±17 | 77±19 | 66±18¶ | <0.01 |
| FEV1/FVC % | 77±7 | 70±9 | 65±10¶ | 0.01 |
| ICS dose# μg | 750 (400–1500) | 1000 (500–2000) | 0.24 | |
| Asthma control score | 0.7 (0.3–1.4) | 1.0 (0.9–1.1) | 0.74 | |
| TCC 106 cells·mL−1 | 3.7 (2.4–5.6) | 5.3 (2.8–8.3) | 10.1 (4.4–17.6) | 0.13 |
| Neutrophils % | 30.5 (14.5–37.4) | 31.2 (16.0–41.1) | 58.5 (24.5–72.0) | 0.08 |
| Neutrophils 104 cells·mL−1 | 90.9 (49.1–150.7) | 104.7 (64.4–218.7) | 589.7 (81.6–1043.3) | 0.06 |
| Eosinophils % | 0 (0–0.3) | 5.1 (2.1–8.6)¶,+ | 0.2 (0–0.8) | <0.01 |
| Eosinophils 104 cells·mL−1 | 0 (0–1.4) | 16.1 (8.8–47.7)¶ | 0.8 (0–13.2) | <0.01 |
| Macrophages % | 66.1 (58.4–82.4) | 52.6 (49.8–62.8) | 40.5 (22.6–48.3)¶ | <0.01 |
| Macrophages 104 cells·mL−1 | 226.0 (172.8–307.4) | 241.5 (189.1–437.3) | 238.1 (120.6–402.7) | 0.82 |
Data are presented as mean±sd, n (%) or median (interquartile range), unless otherwise specified. FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; % pred: % predicted; FVC: forced vital capacity; ICS: inhaled corticosteroid; TCC: total cell count. #: 1 μg beclometasone≡1 μg budesonide≡0.5 μg fluticasone. ¶: p<0.008 versus healthy controls; +: p<0.008 versus non-eosinophilic asthma (Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric test for significance).