Pulmonary Medicine / 2012 / Article / Tab 4 / Research Article
Near Fatal Asthma: Clinical and Airway Biopsy Characteristics Table 4 Clinical characteristics of NFE II and ME II groups at the initial evaluation. Values are shown as mean ± standard deviation
or frequency and percent. The relative risk is presented at the last column.
ME II NFE II
ValueRR (95% confidence interval) Prior admissions 19/23 (83%) 22/25 (88%) NS Prior intubation 9/30 (30%) 16/27 (59%) 0.03 1.97 (1–3.7) B2 agonist Use 23/25 (92%) 30/33 (91%) NS Inhaled corticosteroids 6/36 (17%) 16/33 (48%) 0.008 2.9 (1.2–6.5) Systemic corticosteroids 11/36 (30%) 10/33 (30%) NS Cough 10/12 (83%) 15/20 (75%) NS Wheezing 10/12 (83%) 22/23 (96%) NS Sputum 6/10 (60%) 13/17 (76%) NS Chest tightness 3/6 (50%) 6/10 (60%) NS URTI 6/16 (37%) 7/15 (47%) NS Heart rate (beats/min)
0.0001 Respiratory rate (breaths/min)
<0.0001 Systolic BP (mmHg)
NS Diastolic BP (mmHg)
0.002
PO2 (mmHg)
0.003
PCO2 (mmHg)
0.001 pH
0.0001 FiO2 (%)
0.001 A-aO2 (mmHg)
0.09 WBC (mm3 )
0.01 Eos (%)
0.03 Eos absolute (/mm3 )
0.03 Hospitalization days
0.001
URTI: upper respiratory tract infection; BP: blood pressure; WBC: white blood counts; Eos: eosinophils; A-a: alveolar-arterial gradient; NS: nonsignificant.