TABLE 1.
Patient characteristics
| Control | COPD | Asthma | p-value# | ||||
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | 80.00 | 8/10 | 36.36 | 4/11 | 50.00 | 6/12 | |
| Male | 20.00 | 2/10 | 63.63 | 2/11 | 50.00 | 6/12 | 0.123 |
| Age, years | 55 (37–66) | 10 | 60 (54–70) | 11 | 48 (21–79) | 12 | 0.060 |
| BMI, kg·m−2 | 23.25 (19.53–35.11) | 10 | 22.77 (17.72–35.56) | 11 | 24.11 (18.17–35.06) | 12 | 0.691 |
| Comorbidities¶ | |||||||
| No | 80.00 | 8/10 | 72.72 | 8/11 | 91.67 | 11/12 | |
| Yes | 20.00 | 2/10 | 27.27 | 3/11 | 8.33 | 1/12 | 0.493 |
| Immunosuppressive medication+ | |||||||
| No | 100.00 | 10/10 | 72.72 | 8/11 | 58.33 | 7/12 | |
| Yes | 0.00 | 0/10 | 27.27 | 3/11 | 41.67 | 5/12 | 0.073 |
| Smoking status | |||||||
| Current | 10.00 | 1/10 | 0.00 | 0/11 | 8.33 | 1/12 | |
| Former | 20.00 | 2/10 | 100.00 | 11/11 | 25.00 | 3/12 | |
| Never | 70.00 | 7/10 | 0.00 | 0/11 | 66.67 | 8/12 | 0.002 |
| Pack-years | 0 (0–18) | 8/10 | 32.5 (10–50) | 10 | 0 (0–50) | 12 | <0.001 |
| GOLD stage | |||||||
| I/II/III/IV | 1/2/0/8 | ||||||
| A/B/C/D | 1/1/2/7 | ||||||
| Asthma severity | |||||||
| I/II/III/IV/V | 1/0/2/1/8 | ||||||
| FEV1/FVC, % | 80.0 (70.0–90.0) | 9 | 37.2 (20.2–69.7) | 11 | 74.6 (54.8–89.5) | 12 | <0.001 |
| FEV1/FVC % pred§ | 99.88 (87.94–110.97) | 9 | 47.77 (26.00–87.67) | 11 | 93.37 (69.59–104.25) | 12 | <0.001 |
Data are presented as %, n/N or median (range), unless otherwise stated. Bold type represents statistical significance. BMI: body mass index; GOLD: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC: forced vital capacity. #: differences between groups were tested using Chi-squared test for categorical variables and Kruskal–Wallis test for continuous variables; ¶: defined as hypertension, myocardial infarction or stroke; +: defined as oral immunosuppressive drugs (e.g. cortisone); §: percent predicted according to Global Lung Initiative [59].