Patient characteristics at baseline of randomised treatment (GL1) and at the start of 5 years of follow-up (GL2) for the original FS30/F30 and F6/placebo groups
| Baseline GL1 | Start of GL2 | |||
| F6/placebo | FS30/F30 | F6/placebo | FS30/F30 | |
| Subjects n | 60 | 54 | 46 | 46 |
| Male/female n | 51/9 | 48/6 | 41/5 | 42/4 |
| Age years | 61±7.7 | 62±7.8 | 64±7.7 | 64±7.3 |
| Smoking (yes/no) n | 36/24 | 36/18 | 22/24 | 26/20 |
| Pack-years | 41 (31–54) | 47 (31–56) | 43 (31–58) | 49 (34–57) |
| Post-bronchodilator FEV1 % pred | 64±8.3 | 62±9.3 | 61±11.1 | 63±11.7 |
| Post-bronchodilator FEV1 L | 2.05±0.5 | 2.06±0.4 | 1.92±0.6# | 2.03±0.5 |
| Post-bronchodilator FEV1/IVC % | 49±8.5 | 47±8.6 | 46±10.6 | 47±9.9 |
Data of the two combined groups are derived from the original four treatment groups in GL1 and are presented as mean±sd or median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. Data for the four individual treatment groups have been previously reported [20]. F6: 6 months treatment with fluticasone, followed by 24 months of placebo; FS30: 30 months treatment with fluticasone and salmeterol; F30: 30 months treatment with fluticasone. FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; IVC: inspiratory vital capacity. #: p≤0.001 compared to original combined F6/placebo groups at baseline GL1 (calculated with paired samples t-test).