Table 1. Total and differential cell counts in BALF in the asthma group and control group (medians and quartiles).

Group	n	Total cell amount (×10⁶/ mL)	Phagocytes (%)	Neutrophils (%)	Eosinophils (%)	Epithelial cells (%)
Control group	18	0.7 (0.5-0.9)	91.4 (87.3-96.2)	0.3 (0.2-1.4)	0.2 (0.1-0.5)	0.4 (0.2-1.9)
Mild asthma group	19	0.9 (0.6-1.3)	91.3 (86.8-96.2)	0.8 (0.4-1.7)^b	2.7 (0.9-4.2)^b	2.6 (0.9-4.1)^b
Moderate to severe group	37	1.4 (1.1-1.9)	87.9 (38.5-94.8)	1.7 (1.4-4.5)^a,c	4.6 (3.5-9.6)^a,c	3.8 (2.4-12.4)^a,c
H value		2.172	0.246	44.841	52.520	46.231
P value		0.069	0.819	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001

^a, P<0.01, compared with the control group; ^b, P<0.05, compared with the control group; ^c, P<0.01, compared with the mild asthma group.