Bronchial wash (BW) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell counts
| Mean (95% CI) | p Value | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAS | DES | FAA | DEA | DE effect | Allergen effect | Ordinal effect | |
| BW | |||||||
| Total cells* | 748.8 | 480.0 | 728.3 | 522.2 | 0.14 | 0.96 | NA |
| Neutrophils* | 141.1 (27.2 to 731.6) | 25.7 (4.5 to 146.8) | 103.1 (22.2 to 479.0) | 105.0 (18.3 to 601.2) | 0.20 | 0.51 | NA |
| Neutrophils % | 8.7 (2.5 to 30.4) | 2.3 (0.6 to 9.0) | 8.4 (2.7 to 26.3) | 9.4 (2.4 to 36.6) | 0.31 | 0.31 | NA |
| Lymphocytes* | 1.1 (0.3 to 4.2) | 0.2 (0.0 to 0.8) | 1.1 (0.3 to 3.7) | 0.2 (0.1 to 1.1) | 0.01 | 0.81 | NS |
| Lymphocytes % | 0.3 (0.1 to 0.6) | 0.1 (0.0 to 0.2) | 0.2 (0.1 to 0.3) | 0.1 (0.0 to 0.2) | 0.07 | 0.47 | NS |
| Macrophages* | 517.4 (268.2 to 998.4) | 341.8 (167.8 to 696.2) | 464.5 (255.5 to 844.4) | 329.7 (161.9 to 671.5) | 0.20 | 0.78 | NA |
| Macrophages % | 60.0 (43.6 to 74.3) | 53.7 (37.2 to 70.3) | 46.7 (32.7 to 60.7) | 48.6 (32.0 to 65.2) | 0.82 | 0.15 | NA |
| Eosinophils* | 26.2 (10.2 to 67.3) | 8.0 (2.9 to 22.3) | 99.9 (42.7 to 233.7) | 31.2 (11.2 to 86.9) | 0.01 | 0.003 | NS |
| Eosinophils % | 2.4 (1.1 to 5.0) | 1.1 (0.5 to 2.4) | 7.8 (4.0 to 15.2) | 4.3 (1.9 to 9.7) | 0.06 | 0.001 | NS |
| BECs* | 63.0 (32.8 to 121.0) | 104.3 (51.0 to 213.4) | 59.7 (33.3 to 107.1) | 56.1 (27.4 to 114.8) | 0.52 | 0.36 | NA |
| BECs % | 6.0 (3.0 to 12.1) | 12.2 (5.7 to 26.2) | 4.6 (2.4 to 8.8) | 6.3 (2.9 to 13.5) | 0.11 | 0.16 | NA |
| BAL | |||||||
| Total cells* | 8550.0 | 10940.5 | 15043.4 | 16548.1 | 0.55 | 0.007 | 0.009 |
| Neutrophils* | 727.1 (285.2 to 1853.6) | 433.0 (173.9 to 1078.0) | 1597.4 (609.8 to 4184.4) | 2924.7 (1146.3 to 7462.5) | 0.95 | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Neutrophils % | 5.1 (2.4 to 11.1) | 3.2 (1.5 to 6.8) | 7.7 (3.5 to 17.1) | 11.6 (5.3 to 25.2) | 0.87 | 0.008 | 0.02 |
| Lymphocytes* | 23.1 (7.8 to 68.3) | 43.0 (15.0 to 123.5) | 64.0 (20.9 to 196.2) | 10.3 (3.5 to 30.6) | 0.26 | 0.60 | NA |
| Lymphocytes % | 0.2 (0.1 to 0.5) | 0.4 (0.2 to 0.9) | 0.4 (0.1 to 0.8) | 0.1 (0.0 to 0.2) | 0.40 | 0.21 | NA |
| Macrophages* | 7405.4 (4594.2 to 11936.9) | 9949.2 (6266.5 to 15795.9) | 11243.2 (6859.1 to 18429.3) | 10270.0 (6371.3 to 16554.4) | 0.66 | 0.38 | NA |
| Macrophages % | 70.5 (57.6 to 83.5) | 77.0 (64.4 to 89.5) | 62.7 (49.3 to 76.0) | 52.83 (39.9 to 65.7) | 0.81 | 0.008 | 0.01 |
| Eosinophils* | 242.8 (100.4 to 587.5) | 191.7 (80.9 to 454.2) | 1949.5 (786.6 to 4832.1) | 3178.5 (1312.6 to 7696.7) | 0.76 | <0.0001 | <0.0001 |
| Eosinophils % | 1.7 (0.9 to 3.3) | 1.5 (0.8 to 2.7) | 9.4 (5.0 to 18.0) | 12.7 (6.8 to 23.9) | 0.82 | <0.0001 | <0.0001 |
| BECs* | 151.6 (57.6 to 399.1) | 323.6 (126.5 to 827.5) | 189.7 (69.8 to 516.0) | 164.6 (62.5 to 433.5) | 0.49 | 0.60 | NA |
| BECs % | 1.3 (0.6 to 3.1) | 2.9 (1.2 to 6.6) | 1.1 (0.5 to 2.7) | 0.7 (0.3 to 1.6) | 0.66 | 0.04 | NS |
*Refers to absolute cell number per mL×103; % refers to percentage of given cell type as proportion of total cells; p values ≤0.05 are in bold. The ordinal effect p value is NA (not applicable, as analysis not performed) when DE and allergen p value were both greater than 0.1, as dictated by our statistical methods. NS refers to p>0.05.
BEC, bronchial epithelial cell; DE, diesel exhaust; DEA, diesel exhaust and allergen; DES, diesel exhaust and saline; FAA, filtered air and allergen; FAS, filtered air and saline.