Table 2.

Clinical Characteristics of Donors of Sputum Samples with Severe Asthma in the Discovery Cohort

	Patients with Eosinophil-enriched Sputa* (n = 22)	Patients with Non–Eosinophil-enriched Sputa† (n = 14)	P Value
Age, yr	67 (58–71)	58 (56–66)	0.23
BMI, kg/m2	29.6 (26.4–37.6)	31.1 (29.1–35.2)	0.49
Sex, % females	45	28	0.31
Age of asthma onset, yr	39 (7–53)	35 (29–49)	0.72
Asthma duration, yr	24 (8–33)	23 (12–38)	0.95
Smoking status, current–never–ex	1/20–13/20–8/20	0/12–7/12–7/12	0.56
Post-bronchodilator FEV1, % predicted	75 (53.8–92.4)	53 (49.5–81)	0.17
Post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC, % predicted	89.1 (76.3–99.3)	73.9 (66.7–99.1)	0.47
FeNO, ppb	37 (23–52)	26 (14–68.5)	0.40
Blood eosinophils, ×109/L	0.21 (0.08–0.46)	0.10 (0.05–0.3)	0.30
ACQ 6 score	1.67 (1–3.17)	2.67 (0.67–4.08)	0.85
Atopy,‡ % yes	53	60	0.70
No. of patients on daily dose of maintenance OCS	13/22	7/14	0.31
Maintenance OCS dose (mg or prednisolone/24 h)	5 (5–10)	7.5 (5–15)	0.31
No. of patients on high dose of ICS§	20/22	11/14	>0.99
No. of patients on LABA	21/22	12/14	>0.99
Number of patients on LAMA	11/22	5/14	0.72
Anti-leukotrienes (montelukast)	5/22	5/14	0.24
No. of patients on concurrent anti-IL5 therapy (mepolizumab)	8/22	5/14	0.71
Anti–IL-5 (mepolizumab) treatment duration, wk	8 (6–12)	12 (4–16)	0.98

Definition of abbreviations: ACQ 6 = Asthma Control Questionnaire; BMI = body mass index; LABA = long-acting β antagonist; Fe_NO = fractional exhaled nitric oxide; LAMA = long-acting muscarinic antagonist; OCS = oral corticosteroid.

Data are summarized as median (Q1–Q3) unless otherwise noted. A nonparametric test (Mann-Whitney) was performed for continuous variables.

^*Sputum eosinophils ⩾ 3%.

^† Sputum eosinophils < 3%.

^‡ Positive skin prick test.

^§ Beclomethasone dipropionate (hydrofluoroalkane [HFA]-propelled pressurised metered-dose inhaler) > 1,000 μg/d.