Table 1.
Baseline values for all patients (n = 9)
| Baseline characteristics | |
| Gender (female/male) | 3/6 |
| Age (years)* | 72 (51–86) |
| Body-mass index (kg/m2)* | 25.9 (24.7–33.7) |
| Smoking (pack years)* | 30 (25–50) |
| Duration of COPD (years)* | 2.0 (1–4) |
| Number of AECOPD in previous year* | 1 (1–2) |
| Duration of AECOPD (days) | 4 (4–7) |
| Dyspnea (%) | 9 (100%) |
| Cough (%) | 9 (100%) |
| Increased sputum production (%) | 9 (100%) |
| Discoloured sputum (%) | 7 (78%) |
| Fever (%) | 7 (78%) |
| Maintenance therapy at admission (%) | |
| β2-agonist and/or anticholinergic | 7 (78%) |
| Inhaled corticosteroids | 4 (44%) |
| Oral corticosteroids | 0 (0%) |
| Theophyllin | 0 (0%) |
| Long-term oxygen therapy | 1 (11%) |
| Severity of AECOPD – Anthonisen's criteria [8] (%) | |
| 1 | 0 (0%) |
| 2 | 2 (22%) |
| 3 | 7 (78%) |
| Heart rate* (beats/min) | 84 (70–101) |
| Blood pressure* (mmHg) | |
| Systolic | 143 (120–150) |
| Diastolic | 80 (69–85) |
| Respiratory rate* | 16 (12–25) |
| Laboratory findings: | |
| Leukocytes total* | 9.3 (7.7–10.1) |
| CRP (mg/dl)* | 19 (6–61) |
| Cortisol basal (nmol/l)** | 439 (392–462) |
| Cortisol after 1 μg ACTH (nmol/l)** | 712 (608–730) |
| Basal ACTH (ng/l)** | 9.2 (5.1–11.5) |
* median, interquartile range;