| Normal controls | Eosinophilic asthma | Non-eosinophilic asthma | p Value(ANOVA/KW) | p Value (eosinophilic vs non-eosinophilic asthma) | |
| Sputum eosinophil count (%)† | 0.26 (0.1) | 4.0 (0.1) | 0.65 (0.1) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Sputum neutrophil count (%) | 31.6 (6.9) | 38.3 (7.9) | 76.2 (9.0) | 0.06 | – |
| Sputum IL-8 (ng/ml)* | 26.7 (38) | 34.0 (44) | 9 (31) | 0.016 | 0.006 |
| Sputum ECP (ng/ml)* | 75.2 (425) | 378 (1075) | 105 (133) | 0.055 | – |
| Sputum Cys-LT (pg/ml)* | 743 (288) | 1073 (2255) | 636 (441) | 0.047 | 0.37 |
| Sputum histamine (ng/ml)* | 7.2 (17) | 32 (53) | 11.9 (27) | 0.193 | – |
| Bronchial wash eosinophil count (%)† | 0.6 (0.2) | 2.0 (0.2) | 0.4 (0.3) | 0.017 | 0.017 |
| Bronchial wash neutrophil count (%) | 27.4 (6.3) | 25.1 (5.0) | 27.9 (6.7) | 0.94 | – |
| BAL eosinophil count (%)† | 0.6 (0.2) | 1.4 (0.1) | 0.4 (0.1) | 0.03 | 0.029 |
| BAL neutrophil count (%) | 14.7 (4.1) | 7.2 (2.4) | 8.4 (2.5) | 0.19 | – |
| BAL IL-4 (% of CD3+ lymphocytes) | 4.1 (1.2) | 3.9 (1.3) | 7.0 (2.3) | 0.36 | – |
| BAL IFNγ (% of CD3+ lymphocytes) | 32.3 (9.6) | 32.3 (8.6) | 33.3 (5.7) | 0.99 | – |
| Submucosal MBP +ve cells (/mm2)* | 0 (9.4) | 23 (29) | 4.4 (7.9) | 0.03 | 0.016 |
| Submucosal NE +ve cells (/mm2)* | 10 (31) | 10 (24) | 9 (22) | 0.18 | – |
| Submucosal tryptase +ve cells (/mm2)* | 13 (5.7) | 11 (15) | 22 (33) | 0.52 | – |
| Smooth muscle tryptase +ve cells (/mm2)* | 0 (1.8) | 8 (12) | 9 (56) | 0.016 | 0.2 |
| Subepithelial layer thickness (µm)* | 5.1 (2.1) | 10.3 (3.1) | 5.8 (3.0) | 0.002 | 0.003 |
Data given as mean (SE) except *median (interquartile distance) and †geometric mean (log SE).
IL, interleukin; ECP, eosinophilic cationic protein; Cys-Lt, cysteinyl leucotriene; BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage; IFNγ, interferon γ; MBP, major basic protein; NE, neutrophil elastase; ANOVA, analysis of variance; KW, Kruskal-Wallis.