Table 2.
General information of different RCFs-exposed subgroups and control group.
| Parameter | Index | Control Group (n = 171) |
Low Fiber, Low Dust (LL) (n = 101) |
Low Fiber, High Dust (LH) (n = 39) |
High Fiber, High Dust (HH) (n = 32) |
F | χ2 | p Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (year) | Mean ± SD | 33.20 ± 6.41 | 31.88 ± 5.84 | 31.77 ± 5.15 | 37.88 ± 5.49 *,# | 8.711 | <0.001 | |
| Gender | n (%) | 19.923 | <0.001 | |||||
| Male | 125 (73.1) | 62 (61.4) | 14 (35.9) | 20 (62.5) | ||||
| Female | 46 (26.9) | 39 (38.6) | 25 (64.1) | 12 (37.5) | ||||
| Smoking habits | n (%) | |||||||
| Never-smokers | 102 (59.6) | 66 (65.3) | 32 (82.1) | 21 (65.6) | 7.047 | 0.070 | ||
| Ever-smokers | 69 (40.4) | 35 (34.7) | 7 (17.9) | 11 (34.4) | ||||
| TGF-β1 (ng/mL) | Mean ± SD | 0.99 ± 0.29 | 1.06 ± 0.34 | 1.10 ± 0.43 | 1.21 ± 0.49 * | 4.055 | 0.008 | |
| CP (U/L) | Mean ± SD | 97.90 ± 35.01 | 106.17 ± 37.43 | 106.99 ± 33.16 | 115.25 ± 32.44 * | 2.770 | 0.042 | |
| FVC (percentage of predicted value) |
Mean ± SD | 85.42 ± 13.36 | 80.58 ± 10.28 * | 79.66 ± 13.11 * | 78.95 ± 8.92 * | 8.960 | 0.002 | |
| FEV1 (percentage of predicted value) |
Mean ± SD | 86.42 ± 13.04 | 83.09 ± 9.56 * | 81.61 ± 11.55 * | 81.54 ± 8.36 * | 3.031 | 0.030 | |
| FEV1/FVC | Mean ± SD | 87.60 ± 7.33 | 86.08 ± 4.80 | 85.77 ± 6.24 | 84.73 ± 6.35 * | 2.308 | 0.077 |
* p < 0.05 when compared with the control group with LSD-t test, # p < 0.05 when compared with other RCFs-exposed subgroup with LSD-t test. LSD-t test, least significant difference t test.