Table 2. Comparison of characteristics of participants given SCS only versus participants given antibiotics only versus participants given both SCS and antibiotics versus participants given neither SCS nor antibiotics.
| Characteristic | D0 Antibiotics and SCS Treatment | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Both | SCS Only | Antibiotics Only | Neither | ||
| (n = 31) | (n = 33) | (n = 6) | (n = 11) | ||
| Male n (%) | 11 (35) | 15 (45) | 3 (50) | 5 (45) | 0.82 |
| Current smokers, n (%) | 8 (26) | 8 (24) | 1 (17) | 4 (36) | 0.87 |
| Ex-smokers, n (%) | 18 (58) | 12 (36) | 2 (33) | 2 (18) | 0.29 |
| Never smoker, n (%) | 5 (16) | 13 (39) | 3 (50) | 5 (45) | 0.24 |
| Asthma, n (%) | 20 (65) | 26 (79) | 5 (83) | 8 (73) | 0.91 |
| COPD, n (%) | 11 (35) | 7 (21) | 1 (17) | 3 (27) | 0.69 |
| Number taking ICS, n (%) | 13 (42) | 18 (55) | 4 (67) | 5 (45) | 0.61 |
| Increased wheeze at exacerbation, n (%) | 29 (94) | 29 (88) | 4 (67) | 8 (73) | 0.16 |
| Age (years)* | 55 (39–69) | 45 (28–67) | 54 (46–76) | 49 (34–58) | 0.23 |
| Pack year history* | 14 (2–25) | 3 (0–18) | 0 (0–2) | 1 (0–22) | 0.22 |
| Number of hospital admissions in previous 12 months* | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–5) | 0.90 |
| Oxygen saturation (%)˜ | 94 (90–98) | 95 (86–100) | 96 (91–100) | 96 (93–100) | 0.36 |
| VAS cough (mm)* | 55 (30–72) | 36 (16–70) | 62 (50–78) | 30 (53–67) | 0.29 |
| VAS breathlessness (mm)* | 76 (50–87) | 65 (26–84) | 70 (61–89) | 70 (0–88) | 0.78 |
| VAS sputum production (mm)* | 28 (8–53) | 13 (0–25) | 31 (24–75) | 2 (0–23) | 0.01 |
| VAS sputum purulence (mm)* | 32 (5–61) | 2 (0–21) | 17 (0–45) | 1 (0–20) | 0.04 |
| Leucocytes (x10⁹cells/L)* | 11.0 (9.2–14.1) | 9.7 (8.1–12.0) | 11.9 (10.6–14.0) | 11.9 (10.7–13.9) | 0.16 |
| Neutrophils (x10⁹cells/L)* | 8.9 (6.0–11.0) | 6.0 (4.5–8.2) | 8.1 (6.6–9.0) | 8.1 (7.7–11.1) | 0.03 |
| Neutrophil percentage* | 78.1 (68.6–87.8) | 65.4 (55.4–75.1) | 73.6 (62.6–77.7) | 75.0 (66.5–83.6) | 0.01 |
| Eosinophils (x10⁹cells/L)* | 0.1 (0.0–0.3) | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 0.0 (0.0–0.1) | 0.1 (0.1–0.1) | 0.01 |
| Eosinophil percentage* | 1.2 (0.2–3.1) | 3.0 (1.6–5.5) | 0.4 (0.1–1.1) | 0.9 (0.4–1.1) | 0.00 |
| CRP (mg/L)* | 19.3 (4.6–42.8) | 5.4 (1.0–16.6) | 13.4 (1.7–19.8) | 3.4 (1.3–17.9) | 0.06 |
Definition of abbreviations: ICS = inhaled corticosteroids; CRP = C-reactive protein.
Measures of central tendency and spread: variables marked with the * symbol are presented as median (IQR); variables marked with the ˜ symbol are presented as mean (range). Comparisons between treatment groups are made using chi-squared, kruskal-wallis or one-way anova test as appropriate. P-values are reported to 2dp unless the p-value is less than 0.001, in which case it is reported as <0.001.