Table 3. Comparison on clinical characteristics of bronchiectasis patients with and without capsaicin cough hypersensitivity.
| Parameter | Cough hypersensitivity (n = 52) | Normal cough sensitivity (n = 83) | P value | |
| Demographics | Age (yrs) | 45.4±15.3 | 44.2±12.7 | 0.62 |
| Height (cm) | 160.0±7.2 | 162.2±7.6 | 0.09 | |
| Weight (kg) | 49.0 (8.2) | 54.0 (11.5) | <0.01 | |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 19.4±2.6 | 21.1±3.2 | <0.01 | |
| Females (No., %) | 41 (78.8%) | 42 (50.6%) | <0.01 | |
| Disease-related characteristics | Duration of bronchiectasis (yrs) | 10.0 (15.0) | 10.0 (17.0) | 0.70 |
| No. of bronchiectatic lobes | 4.0 (3.0) | 3.0 (3.0) | <0.01 | |
| HRCT total score | 8.0 (6.0) | 5.0 (6.0) | <0.01 | |
| 24-hour sputum volume (ml) | 20.0 (45.0) | 15.0 (20.0) | 0.07 | |
| BSI | 7.4±3.5 | 5.0 (6.0) | <0.01 | |
| Sputum purulence score | 6.0 (1.0) | 6.0 (2.0) | 0.02 | |
| Spirometry | FVC pred% | 71.9±19.8 | 83.3±18.6 | <0.01 |
| FEV1 pred% | 62.7±22.0 | 75.9±22.7 | <0.01 | |
| FEV1/FVC (%) | 71.4±13.2 | 76.8 (15.2) | 0.12 | |
| MMEF pred% | 48.6±27.8 | 63.0±31.0 | <0.01 | |
| Cough-related parameters | Cough symptom score | 4.0 (2.0) | 3.0 (2.0) | <0.01 |
| LCQ total score | 11.7±3.9 | 13.2±3.7 | 0.03 | |
| Bronchiectasis etiology | Post-infectious (No., %) | 14 (26.9%) | 23 (27.7%) | 0.58 |
| Immunodeficiency (No., %) | 7 (13.5%) | 6 (7.2%) | 0.23 | |
| Gastroesophageal reflux (No., %) | 2 (3.8%) | 4 (4.8%) | 0.87 | |
| Other known etiologies (No., %) | 7 (13.5%) | 15 (18.1%) | 0.48 | |
| Idiopathic (No., %) | 24 (46.2%) | 27 (32.5%) | 0.11 | |
| Sputum bacteriology | Pseudomonas aeruginosa (No., %) | 27 (51.9%) | 16 (19.3%) | <0.01 |
| Other PPMs (No., %) | 9 (17.3%) | 29 (34.9%) | 0.03 | |
| Commensals (No., %) | 16 (30.8%) | 38 (45.8%) | 0.08 |
Numerical data were presented as mean ± standard deviation for normal distribution or otherwise median (interquartile range). Categorical data were expressed as number (percentage) and compared with chi-square test.
PPM: potentially pathogenic microorganism.
A minority of patients had dual etiologies, therefore the sum of proportion of individual etiologies was greater than 100%.
Data in boldface indicated statistical significance.