Table 1.

Comparison of general and disease characteristics of subjects in the two groups.

	Mucus plug group (n = 95)	Control group (n = 56)	P-value
Age (years)	6.83 [4.67–9.17]	6.13 [4.17–9.08]	0.316
Male	57 (60.0%)	31 (55.4%)	0.573
Urban living	71 (74.7%)	44 (78.6%)	0.593
Birth weight (kg)	3.30 [3.00–3.50]	3.25 [3.00–3.60]	0.997
Premature	4 (4.4%)	5 (9.3%)	0.220
Cesarean	42 (44.7%)	31 (57.4%)	0.136
Neonatal asphyxia	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.9%)	–
Neonatal oxygen	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.9%)	–
Feeding mode			0.174
Breastfeeding	71 (75.5%)	40 (72.7%)
Formula feeding	13 (13.8%)	4 (7.3%)
Mixed feeding	10 (10.6%)	11 (20.0%)
Allergy history	37 (38.9%)	26 (46.4%)	0.368
Allergic family history	39 (41.5%)	22 (40.0%)	0.858
Siblings ≥1	38 (40.0%)	20 (35.7%)	0.601
Asthma hospitalization history	24 (25.8%)	8 (14.3%)	0.097
Systemic glucocorticoid therapy	13 (14.0%)	4 (7.3%)	0.216
Admission season			0.935
Spring	18 (18.9%)	11 (19.6%)
Summer	21 (22.1%)	10 (17.9%)
Autumn	41 (43.2%)	25 (44.6%)
Winter	15 (15.8%)	10 (17.9%)
Emergency admission	51 (53.7%)	27 (48.2%)	0.516
PICU treatment	19 (20.0%)	7 (12.5%)	0.238
First asthma diagnoses	83 (87.4%)	43 (76.8%)	0.091
Respiratory infection	87 (91.6%)	46 (82.1%)	0.084
Comorbidity	49 (51.6%)	23 (41.1%)	0.212
Asthma phenotype			0.614
Atopy-only	47 (59.5%)	26 (56.5%)
Eos-only	5 (6.3%)	1 (2.2%)
T2-high	15 (19.0%)	9 (19.6%)
T2-low	12 (15.2%)	10 (21.7%)
Severe to critical attacks	26 (27.4%)	19 (33.9%)	0.395
Dyspnea	50 (52.6%)	15 (26.8%)	0.002
Respiratory failure	13 (13.7%)	9 (16.1%)	0.688
Serum total IgE (IU/mL)	286.85 [119.00–484.90]	396.00 [248.18–1,265.00]	0.027
Positive serum allergen detection	71 (74.7%)	40 (71.4%)	0.318
Procalcitonin	0.15 [0.08–0.46]	0.22 [0.09–0.53]	0.758
C-reactive protein	11.00 [3.35–22.00]	8.00 [3.43–12.80]	0.161
White blood cell counts	9.03 [6.81–11.86]	8.16 [7.02–11.15]	0.465
Neutrophil count	5.49 [3.49–8.24]	5.40 [3.55–6.83]	0.460
Eosinophil count	0.12 [0.01–0.35]	0.21 [0.02–0.41]	0.147
Eosinophil %	1.10 [0.10–4.50]	2.55 [0.30–4.50]	0.154

The bold values indicated that P < 0.05.