Table 1.
Socio-demographic characteristics and clinical data of the study population.
| Moderate and severe asthma | P | Severe asthma | P | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without BQ (146) | with BQ (78) | Without BQ (66) | with BQ (71) | |||
| Sociodemographic data | ||||||
| Gender (female) | 94 (64.4%) | 46 (59.0%) | 0.43 | 37 (56.1%) | 43 (60.6%) | 0.59 |
| Age (years) | 49.9 (17.2) | 56.2 (13.1) | 0.005 | 49.7 (17.0) | 56.2 (13.5) | 0.014 |
| Age group* | 0.004 | 0.033 | ||||
| A1, < 42 yrs | 45 (30.8%) | 9 (11.5%) | < 0.001† | 20 (30.3%) | 9 (12.7%) | 0.009† |
| A2, 42–65 yrs | 65 (44.5%) | 49 (62.8%) | 0.364†† | 29 (43.9%) | 43 (60.6%) | 0.078†† |
| A3, ≥ 65 yrs | 36 (24.7%) | 20 (25.6%) | 0.023¶ | 17 (25.8%) | 19 (26.8%) | 0.491 |
| Race (Caucasian) | 141 (96.6%) | 72 (92.3%) | 0.20 | 63 (95.5%) | 65 (91.5%) | 0.50 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.1 (23.6,30.7) | 27.1 (24.4, 29.1) | 0.77 | 27.9 (24.7, 30.7) | 27.3 (24.6, 29.1) | 0.35 |
| Smoking status | 0.24 | 0.42 | ||||
| Non-smoker | 100 (68.5%) | 46 (59.0%) | 43 (65.2%) | 42 (59.2%) | ||
| Current-smoker | 8 (5.5%) | 3 (3.8%) | 4 (6.1%) | 2 (2.8%) | ||
| Ex-smoker | 38 (26.0%) | 29 (37.2%) | 19 (28.8%) | 27 (38.0%) | ||
| Packs-year | 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) | 0.0 (0.0, 15.0) | 0.052 | 0.0 (0.0, 4.0) | 0.0 (0.0, 15.0) | 0.30 |
| Clinical data of asthma & lung function | ||||||
| Atopic asthma | 92 (63.0%) | 34 (43.6%) | 0.005 | 42 (63.6%) | 30 (42.3%) | 0.012 |
| Asthma grade | < 0.001 | NA | ||||
| Moderate | 80 (54.8%) | 7 (9.0%) | ||||
| Severe | 66 (45.2%) | 71 (91.0%) | ||||
| Years of asthma | 17.8 (9.4, 31.8) | 19.4 (9.5, 37.1) | 0.27 | 20.2 (13.3, 40.1) | 20.4 (9.6, 37.3) | 0.57 |
| Age of asthma onset | 26.0 (6.0, 45.1) | 33.7 (16.0, 45.9) | 0.20 | 20.5 (5.5, 37.6) | 33.8 (15.0, 46.0) | 0.024 |
| CAO (yes) | 49 (33.6%) | 22 (28.2%) | 0.41 | 25 (37.9%) | 21 (29.6%) | 0.30 |
| ACT (pts) | 21 (18, 24) | 16 (13, 21) | < 0.001 | 20.0 (17.0, 23.0) | 16.0 (13.0, 21.0) | 0.003 |
| Exacerbation | 0.0 (0.0, 1.0) | 1.0 (0.0, 3.0) | < 0.001 | 0.0 (0.0, 2.0) | 2.0 (0.0, 4.0) | < 0.001 |
| ≥ 3 courses | 8 (5.5%) | 27 (34.6%) | < 0.001 | 8 (12.1%) | 27 (38.0%) | < 0.001 |
| FVC% pred | 89.4 (15.9) | 82.8 (17.7) | 0.005 | 86.8 (16.9) | 81.8 (17.7) | 0.096 |
| FEV1% pred | 81.0 (17.1) | 73.2 (19.6) | 0.002 | 75.8 (17.1) | 72.2 (19.4) | 0.25 |
| FEV1/FVC | 72.7 (9.0) | 69.5 (9.1) | 0.014 | 70.2 (8.5) | 69.5 (9.2) | 0.62 |
| FEV1/FVC ≥ 70 | 86 (58.9%) | 42 (53.8%) | 0.47 | 32 (48.5%) | 34 (47.9%) | 0.94 |
| Comorbidity | ||||||
| NSAIDs allergy | 25 (17.1%) | 13 (16.7%) | 0.93 | 19 (28.8%) | 11 (15.5%) | 0.060 |
| Rhinitis | 50 (34.2%) | 22 (28.2%) | 0.36 | 21 (31.8%) | 21 (29.6%) | 0.78 |
| Sinusitis | 3 (2.1%) | 8 (10.3%) | 0.018 | 1 (1.5%) | 8 (11.3%) | 0.034 |
| Nasal polyps | 19 (13.0%) | 22 (28.2%) | 0.005 | 11 (16.7%) | 20 (28.2%) | 0.11 |
| Obesity | 46 (31.5%) | 18 (23.1%) | 0.18 | 23 (34.8%) | 16 (22.5%) | 0.11 |
| WRA | 25 (17.1%) | 14 (17.9%) | 0.88 | 10 (15.2%) | 12 (16.9%) | 0.78 |
Continuous variables expressed as mean (SD) or median (p25, p75); categorical data expressed as percentage n (%); *Bonferroni adjust method was used to perform comparison between age subgroup, significant p level at 0.017; †, A1 vs A2; ††, A2 vs A3; ¶, A1 vs A3). BMI: body mass index; CAO: childhood asthma onset (18 yrs cut-off); ACT: asthma control test; BQ: non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis; WRA, work-related asthma. Significant p values in bold font.