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 (𝑛) or frequency and percent. The relative risk is presented at the last column.

	ME II	NFE II	𝑃 Value	RR (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)	102±21(38)	124±20(35)	0.0001
Respiratory rate (breaths/min)	25±6(38)	32±7(25)	<0.0001
Systolic BP (mmHg)	136±19(38)	147±39(36)	NS
Diastolic BP (mmHg)	75±18(37)	93±25(34)	0.002
PO2 (mmHg)	85±33(25)	209±170(34)	0.003
PCO2 (mmHg)	41±10(25)	57±18(34)	0.001
pH	7.38±0.06(24)	7.27±0.12(34)	0.0001
FiO2 (%)	40±21(19)	71±32(26)	0.001
A-aO2 (mmHg)	136±128(19)	188±142(26)	0.09
WBC (mm^3)	11,500±4,000(29)	15,600±6,200(25)	0.01
Eos (%)	1±1.4(19)	2.75±1.5(4)	0.03
Eos absolute (/mm^3)	125±198(19)	445±324(4)	0.03
Hospitalization days	3.8±2.6(27)	9.8±5(7)	0.001

URTI: upper respiratory tract infection; BP: blood pressure; WBC: white blood counts; Eos: eosinophils; A-a: alveolar-arterial gradient; NS: nonsignificant.