Table 1.
Study population
| Demographics | N | N |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | Experiment | Validation |
| 25 | 1122 | |
| Gender | ||
| ▪ Men | 19 | 670 |
| ▪ Women | 6 | 452 |
| Smoking status | ||
| ▪ Active smokers | 10 | 164 |
| ▪ Ex-smokers | 14 | 437 |
| ▪ Never-smoker | 1 | N/A |
| Histology | ||
| ▪ Non-malignant lung | 25 | 108 |
| ▪ Squamous ca. | 11 | 501 |
| ▪ Adenoca. | 14 | 513 |
| COPD status | ||
| ▪ FEV1 / FEV < 70% | 15 | 74 |
| ▪ FEV1 / FEV > 70% | 10 | 146 |
| CRP level | ||
| ▪ CRP < 5 mg/L | 14 | N/A |
| ▪ CRP > 5 mg/L | 11 | N/A |
| Disease stage (TNM 7) | ||
| ▪ Stage I | 15 | 575 |
| ▪ Stage II | 6 | 322 |
| ▪ Stage III | 3 | 189 |
| ▪ Stage IV | 1 | 36 |
Characteristics of the study population. Ex-smoking was defined as a total smoking cessation for at least four weeks before the biopsy