Table 2.

Clinical baseline and treatment effects of asthmatics receiving placebo or budesonide

	Placebo			Budesonide		p value
Subjects (male/female)	4 (1/3)			3 (0/3)
Age (years) §	52 (38-64)			65 (62-67)		0.091
Disease duration (years) §	9 (0.5-20)			9 (5-17)		0.951
Body Mass Index §	29.4 (21.8-34.7)			32.0 (28.9-37.0)		0.578
Documented SPT positivity	3¤			2¤¤
	Pre	Post	p value	Pre	Post	p value	Δ p value
FEV1 (% pred.) #	66 ± 12.52	75 ± 8.67	0.662	88 ± 14.42	101 ± 15.72	0.017	0.838
FVC (% pred.) #	78 ± 13.46	84 ± 8.95	0.738	87 ± 13.78	101 ± 15.01	0.143	0.735
FEV1/FVC #	0.71 ± 0.06	0.76 ± 0.07	0.472	0.85 ± 0.09	0.83 ± 0.05	0.676	0.424
PD20 (mg of methacholine) #	0.077 ± 0.06*	0.084 ± 0.06	0.382	0.243 ± 0.14	-†	na	na
FENO #	53 ± 14.85	40 ± 9.76	0.087	46 ± 5.84	32 ± 9.14	0.092	0.880

The demographics of the asthmatics receiving placebo treatment (n = 4) and budesonide treatment (n = 3) showed no significant differences in age, disease duration or body mass index, as determined by a Student's t-test. The clinical measurements, pre and post treatment, were compared using a paired t-test and showed no changes as a result of placebo treatment. Budesonide treatment resulted in a statistically increased FEV₁% predicted. No significant differences were seen for the other variables measured. A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant (shown in bold).

Abbreviations: FEV₁ = forced expiratory volume in 1 sec; FVC = forced vital capacity; PD20 = provocative dose of methacholine producing a 20% decrease in FEV₁; F_ENO = fractional exhaled nitric oxide; SPT = skin prick test; ^§ = data presented as mean (range); ^¤ = 1 patient was SPT negative; ^¤¤ = SPT was not performed on 1 patient, but they had no clinical history of allergy; ^# = data presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; na = not applicable;* = PD20 measurements were only available for three patients; † = PD20 measurement was only available for one patient; Δ = delta change.