Comparison of nonsquamous sputum inflammatory cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with and without chronic bronchitis(CB) #
| With CB | Without CB | p-value | |
| Subjects n | 50 | 55 | |
| Absolute numbers ×104· mL−1 | |||
| Total cell count | 135.0 (78.6–283.9) | 149.1 (73.8–313.0) | 0.54 |
| Neutrophils | 90.0 (46.1–204.6) | 110.0 (56.3–231.0) | 0.31 |
| Macrophages | 32.6 (18.8–64.8) | 29.6 (13.0–59.3) | 0.45 |
| Lymphocytes | 2.2 (1.0–5.6) | 2.1 (1.0–7.2) | 0.94 |
| Eosinophils | 1.7 (0.48–4.9) | 1.1 (0.2–3.3) | 0.13 |
| Epithelial cells | 1.26 (0.69–3.39) | 1.37 (0.43–3.82) | 0.40 |
| Basophils | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | |
| Percentages | |||
| Neutrophils | 69.9 (55.0–97.5) | 73.8 (65.8–83.7) | 0.046* |
| Macrophages | 23.0 (17.7–35.1) | 21.3 (12.7–28.3) | 0.039* |
| Lymphocytes | 1.8 (1.2–2.4) | 1.7 (0.8–2.2) | 0.47 |
| Eosinophils | 1.4 (0.5–2.3) | 0.7 (0.2–1.7) | 0.033* |
| Epithelial cells | 1.0 (0.5–2.3) | 1.3 (0.2–2.3) | 0.32 |
Data are presented as median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. #: sputa from 106 patients were available for analysis. *: p<0.05