Neutrophilic Asthma Is Associated with Increased Airway Bacterial Burden and Disordered Community Composition

Table 1

Characteristics of subjects.

Characteristics	NA (n = 20)	Non-NA (n = 34)	P
Age, y	47.4±10.5	42.9±11.3
Sex, male (%)	10 (50)	10 (29.4)	0.154^&
BMI, kg/m^2	24.0±3.20	24.4±3.7
ICS dose, μg/d	500 (200, 500)	250 (200, 500)	0.193^#
ACT score	23 (22, 24)	22 (21, 24)	0.425^#
FEV1% predicted	72.0±18.9	75.0±13.5
FEV1/FVC%	66.2±10.6	69.1±8.8
Squamous cells %	2.3 (1.1, 4.8)	2.1 (1.2, 5.8)	0.713^#
Viability %	89.2 (86.0, 92.5)	82.8 (77.3, 87.2)	0.008^#
Total cell count ×10^6/g	14.0 (7.8, 17.5)	10.0 (6.7, 15.1)	0.325^#
Neutrophils %	75.8±5.1	40.7±14.9	<0.00
Neutrophils count ×10^6/g	10.7 (5.7, 13.8)	4.0 (2.2, 7.6)	<0.001^#
Eosinophils %	1.1 (0.2, 3.4)	3.1 (0.9, 17.1)	0.016^#
Eosinophils count ×10^6/g	0.1 (0.0, 0.3)	0.2 (0.1, 1.9)	0.053^#
Macrophages %	15.8±5.6	41.9±17.5	<0.00
Macrophages count ×10^6/g	1.9 (1.3, 2.6)	3.9 (2.3, 6.4)	<0.001^#
Lymphocytes %	4.6 (3.5, 9.8)	5.4 (3.1, 9.8)	0.886^#
Lymphocytes count ×10^6/g	0.7 (0.3, 1.4)	0.5 (0.2, 1.3)	0.038^#

Data are presented as n, n (%), mean ± SD, and median (quartile 1, quartile 3) unless otherwise indicated. The ICS dose is presented in fluticasone equivalents.
NA: neutrophilic asthma; BMI: body mass index; ICS: inhaled corticosteroids; ACT: Asthma Control Test; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 second; FVC: forced vital capacity; SD: standard deviation.
-test.
–Whitney U test.
^&Fisher’s exact test.