Table E2 The within patient variability in pulmonary inflammatory mediators and cells seen in stable patients with severe COPD over one month

Patient		IL-1ß (pM)	TNFα (pM)	CXCL8 (nM)	MPO (mg/ml)	LTB4 (nM)	GROα (nM)	Neutrophils (10⁶/ml)	Macrophages 10⁶/ml)
1	Median	606	72.2	14.27	7.2	91.2	29.1	4.8	0.09
	IQR	399–1104	66–141	10.9–16.1	5.34–9.5	35–120	24–33	1.8–13.4	0.06–0.17
	CV	11	11.3	15.9	32.9	16.9	16	77.3	31.8
2	Median	19.1	0.4	4.8	1.8	1.4	14.7	1.3	0.18
	IQR	9.3–26.6	0.19–0.69	3.85–6.68	1.24–1.8	0.85–1.96	12–20.4	0.4–1.95	0.14–0.34
	CV	19.6	87	25.4	162.5	194	9.6	471	37.1
3	Median	5.8	0.3	1.4	1.7	5.9	18.1	0.9	0.12
	IQR	3.4–6.6	0.2–0.6	1.2–1.5	1.4–1.9	5–6.5	16.6–19.7	0.7–1.4	0.07–0.13
	CV	30.3	45.3	85	61.2	22.2	12.3	804	44
4	Median	501	52.2	24.4	2.41	28	16.8	5.35	0.2
	IQR	417–865	48.5–68.8	19.8–27.5	1.6–4.5	20.5–42	14.7–18.7	2.5–7.4	0.13–0.42
	CV	8.3	6.6	20.7	84.3	13.5	9.5	44.9	51.7
5	Median	697	74.6	26	4.13	10.23	3.16	6.25	0.4
	IQR	375–775	33.2–105	18.4–43	2–7.2	7.4–23.4	1.5–3.8	5.2–25.9	0.26–0.81
	CV	10	31	13.9	74.3	25.1	96.8	44.8	81.7
6	Median	120.2	4.32	5.37	4.27	11.17	12.3	3.4	0.27
	IQR	65.9–343	0.4–42	2.5–6.9	3.4–6.4	2.2–17.6	10.2–16.5	2.2–5.9	0.16–0.3
	CV	21.2	159	44.3	35.4	47.9	18.5	38.7	30.4
7	Median	606	253	40.1	5.79	49.04	12.3	18.1	0.46
	IQR	504–1128	212–301	27.7–61.4	3.4–13.8	21.7–75.7	10.6–21.2	12.7–24.9	0.31–0.73
	CV	12	5.6	12.5	59.2	21.9	16.4	17.3	98.3
8	Median	5.1	0.1	0.33	1.15	0.95	4.87	0.4	0.03
	IQR	3.1–5.9	0.03–0.14	0.24–0.41	1.04–1.43	0.6–1.5	3.5–6.4	0.3–0.8	0.03–0.06
	CV	39.8	29.8	29	224	1299	189	92.5	31.3
9	Median	9.26	0.25	1.04	1.93	0.49	8.12	0.4	0.33
	IQR	3.5–43.4	0.02–1.1	0.5–2.6	1.1–2.6	0.32–0.7	4.7–9.8	0.2–1.6	0.17–0.65
	CV	55.5	113	633	70.5	159.4	20.6	236.5	86.7
10	Median	156.9	5.25	2.11	2.03	10.81	5.04	2.15	0.7
	IQR	88–417	3–10.4	1.7–3	1.9–2.4	7.1–15.1	3.9–5.3	0.95–12.6	0.31–2.07
	CV	19	37.4	49.2	22.7	27.9	11.6	181	152.4
11	Median	10.6	0.06	0.11	1.38	6.74	0.3	1.65	0.35
	IQR	7.5–11.8	0.04–0.2	0.06–0.14	1.2–2.6	3.8–11.7	0.1–0.4	1.1–2.2	0.09–0.68
	CV	11.4	29.2	24.3	85.7	32	54.1	92.4	104.7
12	Median	31	4.89	3.7	0.88	3.07	24	5.1	3.31
	IQR	18–41.9	2.7–10	2.8–4.3	0.6–1.1	2.3–7.6	21.4–28.4	4.1–6.7	2.3–3.9
	CV	16.3	87	32.7	186.7	111.2	4.4	20	44.5
13	Median	13.8	0.19	2.05	1.28	1.77	16.8	1.8	1.92
	IQR	6.7–30.8	0.1–0.3	1.3–3.7	1–1.4	0.9–1.8	7.8–21.8	0.8–5.3	0.28–2.56
	CV	31.2	29.3	73.8	107.9	111.8	4.4	178	1100
14	Median	3.12	0.16	2.03	0.78	0.49	19.7	2.65	1.12
	IQR	2–4.9	0.1–0.2	1.4–2.6	0.3–0.9	0.2–1.6	18.4–22	2.2–5.2	1–1.53
	CV	46.9	13.4	60.1	129.5	180	5.5	50.1	159.7

The median biomarker concentration (with corresponding inter-quartile range) is given for each patient. The co-efficient of variation (CV) for each patient was determined from log transformed data and is expressed as a percentage.