Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of all exacerbations, stratified by the presence or absence of pneumonic infiltrate
| All exacerbations (n = 343) | Exacerbations without infiltrate (n = 274) | Exacerbations with infiltrate(n = 69) | P-value* | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| na | na | na | ||||||||
| FEV1 (Litres) | 311 | 0.96 | (0.62) | 255 | 1.0 | (0.62) | 56 | 0.85 | (0.68) | 0.042 |
| FEV1 (% predicted) | 311 | 40.2 | (18.7) | 255 | 41.0 | (19.1) | 56 | 37.1 | (19.4) | 0.038 |
| FEV1/FVC ratio | 311 | 0.39 | (0.17) | 255 | 0.39 | (0.18) | 56 | 0.35 | (0.15) | 0.075 |
| CAT score | 334 | 22 | (10) | 265 | 22 | (10) | 69 | 21 | (10) | 0.568 |
| EXACT score | 318 | 41 | (10) | 251 | 42 | (9) | 67 | 40 | (11) | 0.791 |
| Blood WCC (cellsx109L) | 328 | 8.65 | (3.98) | 261 | 8.30 | (3.60) | 67 | 9.70 | (4.90) | < 0.001 |
| Blood neutrophils (cellsx109L) | 328 | 5.75 | (3.50) | 261 | 5.50 | (3.10) | 67 | 7.30 | (4.50) | < 0.001 |
| Blood eosinophils (cellsx109L) | 328 | 0.20 | (0.20) | 261 | 0.20 | (0.20) | 67 | 0.20 | (0.20) | 0.715 |
| % blood eosinophils | 328 | 1.98 | (2.43) | 261 | 2.04 | (2.43) | 67 | 1.69 | (2.28) | 0.155 |
| CRP (mg/L) | 335 | 10.0 | (23.0) | 268 | 8.0 | (16.8) | 67 | 25.0 | (61.0) | < 0.001 |
| Fibrinogen (g/L) | 314 | 5.3 | (1.8) | 250 | 5.2 | (1.5) | 64 | 6.2 | (2.0) | < 0.001 |
| Procalcitonin (μg/L) | 327 | 0.0767 | (0.0400) | 260 | 0.0751 | (0.0400) | 67 | 0.0835 | (0.0400) | 0.054 |
| Sputum bacterial detection (culture) n, (%) |
308 | 184 | (59.7) | 245 | 140 | (57.1) | 63 | 44 | (69,8) | 0.067 |
| Sputum bacterial detection (PCR) n, (%) |
295 | 200 | (67.8) | 234 | 153 | (65.4) | 61 | 47 | (77.0) | 0.082 |
| Sputum viral detection (PCR) n, (%) |
294 | 126 | (42.9) | 234 | 101 | (43.2) | 60 | 25 | (41.7) | 0.835 |
Continuous variables presented as median (IQR) and categorical variables as n, (%) unless otherwise stated
FEV1 Forced expiratory volume in 1 s, FVC Forced vital capacity, CAT COPD Assessment Test, EXACT EXAcerbations of Chronic pulmonary disease Tool, PCR Polymerase chain reaction, WCC white blood cell count, CRP C-reactive protein
aindicates the number of subjects with available data/samples
*P-values comparing exacerbations with and without infiltrate using Mann Whitney U test for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables