Influence of Age, Past Smoking, and Disease Severity on TLR2, Neutrophilic Inflammation, and MMP-9 Levels in COPD

Table 4

Multivariate linear regression outcomes to determine predictors of sputum neutrophil proportion.

Variable	Coefficient	SE	𝑃	95% confidence interval
Age, years	0.068	0.232	0.771	−0.400 to 0.537
Sex (male/female)	8.968	6.596	0.181	−4.342 to 22.278
Smoker (ex/never)	2.988	6.994	0.671	−11.123 to 17.103
FEV1/FVC, %	−0.130	0.239	0.589	−0.613 to 0.353
Soluble TLR2 ng/mL	−0.048	0.137	0.729	−0.324 to 0.228
Log TLR2 gene expression	16.244	4.793	0.002	6.570 to 25.917
Log TLR4 gene expression	12.405	9.104	0.180	−5.968 to 30.778
Log MMP-9 protein	34.523	10.253	0.002	13.831 to 55.215
Log NE	2.122	5.566	0.705	−9.110 to 13.354
Log CXCL8	−3.969	8.292	0.635	−20.703 to 12.765
Dose-inhaled corticosteroids, μg daily	−0.003	0.003	0.369	−0.009 to 0.004
Constant	−69.667	46.503	0.142	−163.514 to 24.181