Table 1

Demographic and desmosine data for group 1 consisting of healthy volunteers and patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma

Sample typeGroup 1
Blood, urine and sputum
GroupHealthy volunteers: non-smokersHealthy volunteers: smokersAsthma: non-smokersAsthma: smokersStable COPD
Number of participants2620535653
Gender (M/F)8/189/1122/3127/2923/30
Smoking status (smokers/ex-smokers/non-smokers)0/0/2620/0/00/0/5356/0/028/25/0
Age (years)51±1352±946±1247±1065±7*
Body mass index27 (22–28)27 (21–30)28 (25–36)26 (23–30)27 (23–30)
FEV1 (% predicted)106 (95–115)93 (88–100)79 (70–91)78 (58–93)62 (44–77)
TLCO%COHbNANA86±1177±18§60±15
uDES (ng/mg creatinine)9 (8–13)11 (9–15)8 (6–10)10 (7–13)11 (9–15)**
bDES (ng/ml)0.21 (0.19–0.24)0.23 (0.19–0.26)0.21 (0.19–0.25)0.22 (0.19–0.25)0.29 (0.24–0.35)*
  • Data are shown as median (IQR) or mean ± SD based on whether data were normally distributed. Kruskal–Wallis analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Dunn's method for pairwise multiple comparison or one-way ANOVA with Tukey's method was used.

  • * p<0.001, versus other four groups.

  • p<0.05, versus healthy non-smokers and smokers.

  • p<0.001 versus healthy non-smokers and smokers; p<0.05 versus non-smokers and smokers with asthma.

  • § p<0.001, versus non-smokers with asthma and patients with COPD.

  • p<0.001, versus non-smokers and smokers with asthma.

  • ** p<0.01 versus non-smokers with asthma.

  • bDES, blood desmosine; FEV1, forced expiratory volume in 1 s; TLCO%COHb, transfer factor corrected for haemoglobin and carboxy haemoglobin; uDES, urinary desmosine.