TABLE 2.
Relationship between the location of eosinophils within the airway wall and features of airway hyperresponsiveness#
| Methacholine PC20 | Severity of EIB (AUC30) | Max fall in FEV1 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All subjects | Asthma group | All subjects | Asthma group | All subjects | Asthma group | |||||||
| r2 | p-value | r2 | p-value | r2 | p-value | r2 | p-value | r2 | p-value | r2 | p-value | |
| Intraepithelial eosinophils | ||||||||||||
| Volume (cells·mm−3) | 0.18 | <0.01 | 0.06 | 0.19 | 0.17 | 0.01 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.21 | <0.01 | 0.13 | 0.06 |
| Basal lamina (×102 cells·mm−2) | 0.11 | 0.04 | 0.05 | 0.20 | 0.27 | <0.01 | 0.21 | 0.01 | 0.28 | <0.01 | 0.22 | 0.01 |
| Subepithelial eosinophils | ||||||||||||
| Volume (cells·mm−3) | 0.11 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.15 | 0.06 | 0.11 | 0.02 | 0.40 | 0.12 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.16 |
| Basal lamina (×102 cells·mm−2) | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.17 | 0.03 | 0.22 | 0.01 | 0.52 | 0.03 | 0.22 | 0.01 | 0.50 |
Bold type represents statistical significance. PC20: provocative concentration causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1); EIB: exercise-induced bronchoconstriction; AUC30: area under the FEV1 time curve.
assessed using a simple linear regression with the methacholine PC20, the severity of EIB over the first 30 min after exercise challenge (AUC30), and the max fall in FEV1 representing the dependent variables.