Table 2.
Remodelling and immunohistological findings
| Fatal asthma cases | Healthy controls | p* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RBM, um [median, (IQR)]a | 5,7 (2,8) | 2,3 (1,3) | 0.001 |
| RBM, um [median, (IQR)]b | 5,3 (1,8) | 3,4 (0,8) | 0.002 |
| ASM large AW, %, [median, (IQR)] | 15,1 (15,6) | 15 (3,5) | 0.933 |
| ASM small AW, % [median, (IQR)] | 14,0 (7) | 14,0 (8) | 0.553 |
| T cells [median, (IQR)] | 197 (159) | 213/126) | 0.866 |
| B cells [median, (IQR)] | 43 (95) | 19,3 (18) | 0.028 |
| Macrophages [median, (IQR)] | 216 (110) | 93 (22) | 0.001 |
| Mast cells [median, (IQR)] | 73 (23) | 75 (220) | 0.8 |
| CD15 + cells [median, (IQR)] | 53 (187) | 65 (130) | 0.671 |
| Eosinophils [median, (IQR)] | 120 (220) | 0 (4) | <0.001 |
| Plasmacytoid dendritic cells, [median, (IQR)] | 20 (30) | 4 (10) | 0.012 |
| Mucus bronchi [median, (IQR)] | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | <0.001 |
| Mucus bronchioles [median, (IQR)] | 1 (0) | 0 (0) | <0.001 |
| Outer luminal diameter, large AW, mm [median, (IQR)] | 2,0 (1,1) | 1,5 (0,8) | 0.069 |
| Inner luminal diameter, large AW, mm [median, (IQR)] | 1,0 (0,4) | 0,9 (0,4) | 0.353 |
| Wall thickness, large AW, mm [median, (IQR)] | 0,9 (0,9) | 0,7 (0,4) | 0.103 |
| Luminal diameter, small AW, mm [median, (IQR)] | 0,3 (0,1) | 0,2 (0,1) | 0.472 |
Abbrevations: RBM reticular basement membrane, IQR interquartile range, ASM airway smooth muscle, AW airways
*Mann Whitney’s test for continuous variables
All the bolded p-values are of significance (they are < 0.05)
aPerpendicular method
bGrid overlay method