Table 1.
Patient characteristics
| Characteristics | Healthy volunteers (n=20) |
Asthmatic subjects (n=22) |
|---|---|---|
| Age, years | 49.4±7.4 | 39.5±14.0* |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 23.8±3.7 | 21.5±2.6 |
| Male/female, n | 20/0 | 7/15** |
| Asthma duration, years | – | 5.1±10.4 |
| Atopic/nonatopic, n | – | 17/5 |
| Smoking status: non/ex/current, n | – | 15/5/0 |
| Smoking amount, pack-years | – | 3.1±7.3 |
| IgE, IU/mL | – | 698±793 |
| FeNO level, ppb | – | 90±83 |
| <38 ppb, n | – | 7 |
| 38–69 ppb, n | – | 5 |
| ≥70 ppb, n | – | 10 |
| PC20, μg/mL | – | 1504±2116 |
| logPC20 | – | 2.78±0.63 |
| FEV1.0/FVC%, % | – | 78.3±8.7 |
| FEV1.0%pred, % | – | 94.8±13.6 |
| V50%pred, % | – | 72.9±26.8 |
| V25%pred, % | – | 55.4±26.5 |
Notes: The values are presented as number or mean ± standard deviation;
**
p<0.001,
*
p<0.01. “Atopic” is defined as a patient having ≥1 allergen or an IgE-RAST score ≥2.
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; FeNO, fractional exhaled nitric oxide concentration; FEV1.0, forced expiratory volume in 1 second; FVC, forced vital capacity; IgE, immunoglobulin E; PC20, a provocative concentration of acetylcholine causing a 20% decrease in FEV1; %pred, % predicted; RAST, radioallergosorbent testing; V50, V25.