Table 2. Comparison of serum cytokine and chemokine levels between EA patients, NEA patients, ENCs and NENCs.
| Cytokines | EA (n = 234) | NEA (n = 1,218) | ENC (n = 25) | NENC (n = 647) | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EA vs. NEA | EA vs. ENC | ENC vs. NENC | |||||
| IL-8 (pg/mL) | 47.0 ± 167.8 | 64.1 ± 322.4 | 31.58 ± 25.6 | 32.9 ± 68.7 | 0.328 | 0.054 | 0.069 |
| IL-33 (pg/mL) | 24.5 ± 113.9 | 82.3 ± 223.4 | 9.78 ± 25.5 | 80.5 ± 194.3 | 0.017 | 0.456 | 0.612 |
| IL-31 (pg/mL) | 233.0 ± 730.7 | 846.6 ± 3214 | 349.3 ± 762.8 | 899.1 ± 1,754.1 | < 0.001 | 0.257 | 0.286 |
| Eotaxin-2 (pg/mL) | 1,305.9 ± 1,007.1 | 1,221.5 ± 854.3 | 867.8 ± 349.9 | 951.5 ± 617.5 | 0.814 | 0.290 | 0.732 |
| TGF-β1 (ng/mL) | 28.8 ± 15.3 | 30.3 ± 15.3 | 31.4 ± 4.37 | 25.09 ± 11.5 | 0.536 | 0.707 | 0.08 |
| Periostin (ng/mL) | 77.2 ± 42.4 | 81.5 ± 38.8 | 78.8 ± 10.9 | 55.3 ± 30.3 | 0.185 | 0.517 | 0.042 |
Values are given as mean ± SD for continuous variables. P values were applied by Mann-Whitney U test.
EA, elderly asthma; NEA, non-elderly asthma; ENC, elderly normal control; NENC, non-elderly normal control; IL, interleukin; TGF-β1, transforming growth factor beta 1; SD, standard deviation.