Clinical characteristics of study subjects
| Healthy | Smokers | COPD | COPD ExS | |||||
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| Group size n | 19 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 4 | 6 |
| GOLD stage | ||||||||
| I | na | na | na | na | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| II | na | na | na | na | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| A | na | na | na | na | 10 | 8 | 3 | 4 |
| B | na | na | na | na | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Age years | 58±7 | 55±7 | 54±6 | 54±7 | 59±6 | 60±4 | 62±6 | 58±6 |
| BMI kg·m−2 | 27±5 | 26±4 | 24±4 | 24±2 | 24±4 | 24±4 | 27±4 | 28±5 |
| CRP mg·L−1 | 1.3±0.91 | 1.9±1.7 | 4.4±3.2 | 2.6±1.1 | 1.2±0.88 | 1.9±1.9 | 1.7±2.2 | 2.7±2.4 |
| Recovery BAL % | 62±14 | 67±8 | 55±10 | 63±9 | 47±12 | 40±18 | 42±12 | 55±10 |
| Smoking history pack-years | 0 | 0 | 35±15 | 35±11 | 44±11 | 39±9 | 28±8 | 28±9 |
| FEV1 % | 118±14 | 120±12 | 109±11 | 109±13 | 77±9 | 82±13 | 76±19 | 81±11 |
| FEV1/VC % | 79±9 | 81±6 | 76±5 | 76±7 | 59±9 | 60±9 | 54±17 | 60±7 |
| FEV1/FVC % | 81±5 | 81±6 | 78±5 | 78±5 | 61±6 | 60±6 | 60±12 | 64±7 |
| Chronic bronchitis (yes/no) n | 0 | 0 | 7/13 | 3/17 | 2/12 | 5/6 | 1/3 | 1/5 |
| Menopause (pre-/post-) n | na | 6/14 | na | 8/12 | na | 0/11 | na | 0/6 |
| Oestrogen therapy (yes/no) n | na | 1/19 | na | 4/16 | na | 0/11 | na | 1/5 |
| BAL cell concentration ×106·L−1 | 123±55.9 | 119±44.4 | 551±267 | 561±258 | 528±267 | 447±244 | 107±19.9 | 125±87.2 |
| BAL viable cells % | 93.4±3.85 | 93.2±4.77 | 91.6±5.58 | 91.8±3.32 | 91.4±3.22 | 92.2±3.97 | 94.3±2.06 | 91.4±5.19 |
| BAL macrophages ×106·L−1 | 105±46.3 | 102±35.0 | 529±258 | 541±248 | 505±263 | 427±237 | 93.0±15.4 | 106±81.4 |
| BAL lymphocytes ×106·L−1 | 16.9±20.1 | 14.3±15.4 | 15.4±13.7 | 12.8±9.02 | 13.0±10.4 | 13.4±7.21 | 10.1±7.56 | 16.9±8.29 |
| BAL neutrophils ×106·L−1 | 1.57±1.30 | 2.21±1.84 | 4.44±3.04 | 5.33±6.98 | 4.71±3.23 | 5.08±4.97 | 3.45±2.48 | 2.33±2.01 |
| BAL eosinophils ×106·L−1 | 1.04±0.940 | 0.43±0.33 | 4.88±4.42 | 3.00±3.67 | 6.79±14.3 | 1.70±1.39 | 0.0±0.0 | 0.420±0.380 |
| BALF S-Alb g·L−1 | 40.4±1.95 | 39.7±2.08 | 39.6±1.85 | 38.7±2.24 | 37.7±1.33 | 39.0±2.72 | 37.7±1.71 | 40.1±1.95 |
| AB-PAS positive cells % | 13.8±12.2 | 15.4±14.9 | 22.4±16.8 | 18.8±12.7 | 23.2±16.1 | 27.0±16.1 | 26.3±14.9 | 35.0±6.3 |
| Blood platelets ×109·L−1 | 214±33.7 | 276±36.8 | 244±46.4 | 296±65.4 | 279±65.9 | 299±55.0 | 255±54.1 | 257±64.9 |
| Blood leukocytes ×109·L−1 | 5.57±1.18 | 5.44±0.858 | 7.87±1.38 | 7.10±1.86 | 7.31±1.44 | 8.25±2.56 | 6.00±1.04 | 7.80±2.48 |
Data are presented as mean±sd, unless otherwise stated. Healthy: healthy never-smokers; smokers: healthy smokers; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease smokers; COPD ExS: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ex-smokers; GOLD: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; BMI: body mass index; CRP: C-reactive protein; BAL: bronchoalveolar lavage; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; VC: vital capacity; FVC: forced vital capacity; BALF: BAL fluid; S-Alb: serum albumin; AB-PAS: alcian blue–periodic acid–Schiff. NA: not applicable.