Table 1.
Patient characteristics
| Parameters | Overall cohort (n = 211) | Chronic P. aeruginosa colonization (n = 53) | No chronic P. aeruginosa colonization (n = 158) | p value# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 60 (45–74) | 67 (57–77) | 58 (43–73) | 0.237 |
| Age > 55 years | 158 (75%) | 40 (74%) | 92 (58%) | 0.025 |
| Male: female | 113 (54%) | 30 (57%) | 83 (53%) | 0.607 |
| BMI m kg−2 | 23 (20–26) | 24 (20–28) | 23 (20–26) | 0.765 |
| FEV1 predicted at baseline | 79 (63–96) | 75 (58–93) | 81 (65–97) | 0.184 |
| Comorbid condition | ||||
| Cardiologic comorbidities | 50 (24%) | 11 (21%) | 39 (25%) | 0.546 |
| Neurologic disorders | 24 (11%) | 6 (11%) | 18 (12%) | 0.977 |
| Diabetic mellitus | 19 (9%) | 3 (6%) | 16 (10%) | 0.414* |
| Chronic renal impairment | 22 (11%) | 3 (6%) | 19 (12%) | 0.185 |
| Smoker | 0.032 | |||
| Never | 130 (63%) | 39 (75%) | 91 (58%) | |
| Ever or current | 78 (37%) | 13 (25%) | 65 (42%) | |
| Smoking pack-years | 18.5 (6.5–30.5) | 26 (13–39) | 15 (3–28) | |
| Exacerbation frequency | < 0.001 | |||
| None exacerbations | 58 (32%) | 6 (12%) | 52 (40%) | |
| One exacerbation | 51 (29%) | 12 (26%) | 39 (30%) | |
| ≥ Two exacerbations | 70 (39%) | 29 (62%) | 41 (31%) | |
| Hospital admissions | < 0.001 | |||
| None hospital admissions | 140 (78%) | 28 (60%) | 112 (85%) | |
| ≥ One hospital admissions(s) | 39 (22%) | 19 (40%) | 20 (15%) | |
| Cause | ||||
| Idiopathic | 65 (31%) | 12 (22%) | 54 (34%) | 0.117 |
| Post-infectious | 43 (20%) | 18 (34%) | 25 (16%) | 0.005 |
| Primary or secondary immunodeficiency | 39 (19%) | 5 (9%) | 34 (22%) | 0.050 |
| PCD | 17 (8%) | 10 (19%) | 7 (4%) | 0.002* |
| COPD | 14 (7%) | 2 (4%) | 11 (7%) | 0.524* |
| ABPA | 10 (5%) | 3 (6%) | 7 (4%) | 0.714* |
| Severe asthma | 10 (5%) | – | 10 (6%) | 0.069* |
| Aspiration/reflux | 8 (4%) | 2 (4%) | 6 (4%) | – |
| IBD | 3 (1%) | – | 3 (2%) | – |
| Yellow nail syndrome | 1 (1%) | 1 (2%) | – | – |
| Job syndrome | 1 (1%) | – | 1 (1%) | – |
| Radiology (HRCT scan) | ||||
| One lobe affected | 43 (20%) | 7 (13%) | 36 (23%) | 0.134 |
| Two lobes affected | 74 (35%) | 13(25%) | 61 (39%) | 0.063 |
| ≥ Three lobes affected | 94 (45%) | 33 (62%) | 61 (39%) | 0.003 |
| Pathogens (other than P. aeruginosa) | ||||
| Staphylococcus aureus | 26 (22%) | 6 (15%) | 20 (25%) | 0.210 |
| Haemophilus influenzae | 11 (9%) | 5 (13%) | 6 (8%) | 0.503* |
| Aspergillus fumigatus | 23 (19%) | 10 (25%) | 13 (16%) | 0.251 |
| NTM | 6 (5%) | 3 (4%) | 3 (8%) | 0.399* |
| Stenotrophomonas maltophilia | 9 (8%) | 4 (10%) | 5 (6%) | 0.479* |
| Medications | ||||
| Hypertonic saline - inhalation | 85 (48%) | 30 (64%) | 55 (42%) | 0.009 |
| Inhalation antibiotics | 31 (15%) | 20 (42%) | 11 (8%) | < 0.001 |
| Inhaled corticosteroids | 19 (11%) | 8 (17%) | 11 (8%) | 0.105* |
| Inhaled corticosteroids/long-acting Beta-agonists | 97 (54%) | 68 (50%) | 29 (62%) | 0.229 |
| Macrolides maintenance | 136 (65%) | 44 (83%) | 92 (58%) | 0.001 |
| FACED scale | < 0.0001 | |||
| Mild | 99 (48%) | 8 (15%) | 91 (59%) | |
| Moderate | 67 (32%) | 23 (43%) | 44 (29%) | |
| Severe | 41 (20%) | 22 (42%) | 19 (12%) | |
| BSI scale | < 0.0001 | |||
| Mild | 82 (40%) | 3 (6%) | 79 (51%) | |
| Moderate | 50 (24%) | 9 (17%) | 41 (27%) | |
| Severe | 75 (36%) | 41 (77%) | 34 (22%) | |
Data are presented as number of patients, unless otherwise stated
Data are displayed as median with 25th and 75th percentile in parentheses
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ABPA, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis; PCD, primary ciliary dyskinesia; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; NTM, non-tuberculous mycobacteria
# Pa colonization versus others, analyzed with Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables and a chi-square test for categorical variables
*Fisher’s test