Comparison between Airway Responses to High versus Low Molecular Weight Compounds in Occupational Asthma

Table 2

Characteristics of the patients examined, according to the type of the occupational sensitizer.

	LMWC	HMWC
Patients	48	26
Age, years	43.8±12.0	38.9±10.8
Gender,
Male	34 (70.8)	20 (76.9)
Female	14 (29.2)	6 (23.0)
Atopy	12 (25)	12 (46.1)
Smoking habit
Nonsmokers, 𝑁 (%)	23 (47.9)	14 (53.8)
Smokers, 𝑁 (%)	4 (8.3)	2 (7.7)
Ex-smokers, 𝑁 (%)	21 (43.8)	10 (38.4)
Therapy 𝑁/𝑌	29/19	14/12
Duration of symptoms, yrs	6.1±6.9	6.4±5.7
Duration of exposure, yrs	20.1±13.1	15.2±7.7 *
Latency period, yrs	13.9±12.7	8.7±5.7 *
Baseline FEV1
L	3.01±0.67	3.39±0.68 *
% pred	89.2±16.0	93.5±14.8
Baseline PD20FEV1 (mg)	0.22 (0.01–5.00)	0.18 (0.02–5.00)
Sputum eosinophilia
Eosinophils, %	0.95 (0–32)	6.8 (0–43.1)*

Data are presented as 𝑛 (%), M ± SD or GM (range; PD20FEV1) or median (range; eosinophils, %).
* 𝑃<.05.
LMWC: low molecular weight compound; HMWC: high molecular weight compound.